(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-02-27 10:29

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama (D-ILL.) has been broadening his support among Democratic voters, with especially strong support among men, a new poll has found.

He is now viewed by most Democrats as the candidate best able to beat Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in the general election on Nov. 4, according to the New York Times/CBS News Poll released Tuesday.

US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) campaigns at a rally in Corpus Christi, Texas Feb. 22, 2008. [Xinhua]

The poll found that after 40 Democratic primary elections, Obama has made substantial gains across most major demographic groups in the Democratic Party, including men and women, liberals and moderates, higher and lower income voters, and those with and without college degrees.

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For the first time in a New York Times/CBS poll, he moved ahead of rival Sen. Hillary Clinton (D- NY) nationally, with 54 percent of Democratic primary voters saying they wanted to see him nominated, while 38 percent preferred Clinton.

A USA Today/Gallup Poll released Monday showed a similar result, 51 percent for Obama to 39 percent for Clinton.

The poll shows that Obama's coalition -- originally derided by critics as confined to upper-income reformers, young people and blacks -- has broadened significantly.

In December, for example, he had the support of 26 percent of the male Democratic primary voters; in the latest poll, that had climbed to 67 percent.

But there are signs of vulnerability for Obama, too.