The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of New Mexico voters shows Barack Obama attracting 45% of the vote while John McCain earns 42%. If Hillary Clinton is the Democratic nominee, it’s McCain 46% Clinton 43%.

For both Democrats, these numbers reflect a modest improvement since February.

The survey details also suggest the Democrats may gain a little more ground if their battle for the nomination is amicably resolved. At the moment, in a McCain-Obama match-up, 14% of Democrats say they would vote for a third-party option or are currently undecided. Just 6% of Republicans are in the same category. With Clinton as the Democratic nominee, 13% are currently undecided or looking at a third party option. In that scenario, just 4% of Republicans are in a comparable situation.

On top of that, of course, is the fact that many Democrats currently say they would vote for McCain. In New Mexico, one-out-of-five Democrats currently say they would vote for the Republican nominee.

Rasmussen Markets shows that Democrats are currently given a % chance of winning New Mexico’s Five Electoral College Votes this fall. Expectations for a GOP victory are set at %. George W. Bush won the state by 6,000 votes out of nearly 750,000 in Election 2004. Immediately prior to release of this poll, New Mexico was rated as “Leans Democrat” in the Rasmussen Reports Balance of Power Calculator.

Nationally, the race between McCain and either Democrat remains competitive in the Rasmussen Reports Presidential Tracking Poll.

In New Mexico, McCain is viewed favorably by 57%, Obama by 56%, and Clinton by 46%. Those figures have changed little over the past month.

Forty-six percent (46%) rate the economy as poor. Just 15% say good or excellent. Only 5% believe the situation is getting better while 73% say it is getting worse. Those numbers are similar to the nation at large. The Rasmussen Consumer Index shows that consumer and investor confidence has fallen to the lowest levels of the past seven years.

Forty-three percent (43%) believe the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror while 23% believe the terrorists are winning. Thirty-two percent (32%) expect the situation to get better in Iraq over the coming six months while 41% expect things to get worse. Those figures are a bit more pessimistic than the national average.

Sixty percent (60%) of New Mexico voters believe that American society is generally fair and decent while 27% say it is unfair and discriminatory. Those figures are similar to the national average.

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