Gallup poll: Barack Obama lags Hillary Clinton in votes

Sarah Baxter:

To Democrats expecting repeats of his breathtaking speech to the 2004 party convention, which launched his national political career, Obama has appeared low-key and tired at times during the early stages of his campaign.

In meetings across the country he rarely wins more than one or two polite standing ovations. One Hollywood supporter recently noted that the crowd at one of his events “seemed to me unmoved, frankly” and “Barack seemed a little tired, to be honest”.

A Gallup poll on Friday, taken as news of an astonishing $25m (£12.6m) fundraising haul was announced, showed support for him at 19%, well behind Clinton on 38%.

“The survey result suggests that while Obama may have had a great deal of financial momentum in the past quarter, it was not matched by any increase in voter support,” Gallup reported.

Pressure is growing on the Illinois senator to unveil more policies. While Sorenson said that Obama reminded him of the young Kennedy, another guest said: “It’s all very well to talk about hope and idealism and values, but what about specific programmes?”

Hillary Clinton strong among Dems, two-to-one over Obama, others

HILL LAPS BARACK IN POLL