New South Carolina Poll: Obama expands lead

Barack Obama 44
Hillary Clinton 28
John Edwards 15
Dennis Kucinich 1

It appears that Hillary Clinton's comments last week about the Civil Rights movement have moved more black voters in South Carolina into the Obama column. Our newest South Carolina survey, conducted Monday night, shows Obama now receiving 70% of the African American vote in the state, with Clinton at just 15%.

There is a remarkable disparity along racial lines in how the state's Democrats are viewing this primary. Obama receives the support of only 17% of likely white voters, with Clinton leading that demographic with 43% followed by John Edwards at 30%.

The bad news for Clinton is she is likely to get a licking this weekend. The good news for her is that none of the major Super Tuesday primaries will have an electorate that is 50% black like South Carolina- Obama is going to have to do much better than 17% among white voters in places like California or New York or he's not going to fare too well.

At the same time Clinton's going to need to do much better among women than she is in South Carolina, where currently she trails Obama 45-29 on that front.

Obama has significant leads in the Low Country and the Midlands, while trailing Clinton in the Upstate.

PPP intends to do one more South Carolina Democratic poll on Thursday night.

Full results here.