Washington: The latest New York Times/CBS News Poll has shown that in the recent past two months, Sen. Barack Obama has nationally won volumes of Democratic voters, who now view him as the candidate best able to defeat the Republican rival Sen. John McCain. The poll has revealed that Barack Obama is having a 16-point lead over rival Sen. Hillary Clinton among Democratic primary voters nationwide.

According to the NYT/CBS News poll, 59 % of Democratic primary voters currently feel that Obama has the best chance of beating likely Republican nominee John McCain in the general election, but just 29 % favored Clinton. More than 2/3 of Democratic primary voters reckon that they expect the Illinois senator to win the nomination.

In the poll Osama vs McCain, Obama has led McCain by 12 percentage points, 50 to 38 %. In a Clinton-McCain match up, registered voters were evenly split, with 46 percent backing each candidate. Obama has beaten McCain by 10 points among independents, while McCain has beaten Clinton by 17 points among that group.

For the first time in a New York Times/CBS News Poll, Sen. Obama has moved ahead of Mrs. Clinton nationally, with 54 percent of Democratic primary voters saying they wanted to see him nominated, while 38 percent preferred Mrs. Clinton. Similar result was shown by the recent USA Today/Gallup Poll released Monday, which showed 51 percent for Mr. Obama to 39 percent for Mrs. Clinton.

The NYT/CBS News poll has revealed that after the contests of 40 Democratic primaries and caucuses and a winning streak of 11 straight wins over the last two weeks, Obama has nationally gained massive support among 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.

The Poll has shown that Obama is currently leading in the Democratic voters – backed by two-thirds of the Democratic men and 45 percent of the women, but Clinton still has stronghold on white women.

The NYT/CBS News poll has also articulated that Obama, who has been often viewed by critics as the candidate of upper-income reformers, young people and African-Americans, has greatly extended his vote base. For instance; in Dec. he had the support of 26 % of the male Democratic primary voters, but the latest poll has shown that it has surged to 67 %.

According to the poll, Obama’s support among the people with household incomes under $50,000 has climbed to 48 percent from 35 percent since December. His hold among moderates has surged to 59 percent from 28 percent. On the contrary, Mrs. Clinton’s strength among Democratic men has declined from 42 % to 28 % in Dec., but her support among voters in households making under $50,000 has been stable.

The most important thing to note in the poll is that Obama’s support of 19 percent of white women in December has climbed to 40 % in the recent polls, but Clinton with 51 % support still leads Obama among the white women.

The national poll was telephonically conducted on Feb. 20-24 with 1,115 registered voters, including 427 Democratic primary voters and 327 Republican primary voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 % points for all voters, plus or minus 5 % points for Democratic voters and plus or minus 5 % points for Republican voters.