Obama, McCain Tied Nationally

Were Barack Obama to secure the Democratic nomination today, he would go into the general election campaign against presumptive GOP nominee John McCain as neither the frontrunner nor the underdog.

The two are essentially tied in a head-to-head matchup, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos national poll released today and reported by the AP.

In late February, an AP-Ipsos poll showed Obama leading McCain 51-41, but now both candidates have 45 percent support. As the AP notes, "McCain leads Obama among men, whites, Southerners, married women and independents."

Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, leads McCain 48-45 in the survey. (The poll's margin of error is 3.1 percentage points, meaning that spread is within the margin of error.) She led him by six points in February.

In an Obama/Clinton matchup, the poll shows Obama with a 46-43 lead. The Democratic rivals can't count in their opponent's supporters in the general election: One in four Obama supporters and one in three Clinton supporters say they will vote for McCain if their candidate is not the nominee.