When the voting is finished in Indiana and North Carolina, the Democratic Primary competition will move to West Virginia on May 13. That’s a competition Hillary Clinton will be looking forward to with eager anticipation. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the race shows that Clinton attracts 56% of the Likely Democratic Primary Voters while Obama is supported by 27%. Seventeen percent (17%) are not sure.

Those results are virtually identical to an earlier election poll conducted in mid-March.

Clinton is viewed favorably by 72% of West Virginia’s Primary Voters, Obama by 48%. Clinton’s numbers are unchanged while Obama’s ratings have dropped five percentage points.

Clinton will need a big victory in West Virginia to help bolster her talking point about winning the most popular votes. While Obama supporters dismiss this talking point as meaningless, it will be repeated many times in the coming weeks and months. Still, the former First Lady has but one path to the nomination—stay close and hope that Obama makes a mistake.

In West Virginia, 72% say they’re at least somewhat likely to vote for Clinton over McCain in the general election. However, only 56% say they’re somewhat or very likely to vote for Obama.

Seventy-eight percent (78%) have followed recent news stories about Obama’s former Pastor, Jeremiah Wright. Fifty-seven percent (57%) say it’s likely that Obama shares some of Wright’s controversial views. Those figures are similar to the national average for all voters, not Democrats.

Nationally, the race between Obama and Clinton remains close in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.

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