Thompson, McCain pick up ground in new poll

A new national poll out today suggests that Fred Thompson is gaining and Mitt Romney is losing ground in the Republican presidential nomination race.

Thompson, who benefited from a burst of publicity last week by formally jumping into the campaign, had the support of 22 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning independents, up from 19 percent last month, and cemented his second-place standing behind Rudy Giuliani, according to the USA Today/Gallup Poll.

Romney, who is leading in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, saw his support drop from 14 percent to 10 percent and fell to fourth nationally behind John McCain, whose backing rose to 15 percent from 11 percent last month.

The changes, however, are within the statistical margin of error.

Asked who they would prefer if the choice narrowed to Giuliani and Thompson, 53 percent picked the former New York mayor and 40 percent the former Tennessee senator. Between Giuliani and Romney, 68 percent picked Giuliani and 23 percent the former Massachusetts governor.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton continues to lead, with 45 percent compared to 24 percent for Barack Obama and 16 percent for John Edwards.

In a two-way race with Obama, Clinton leads the Illinois senator 63 percent to 32 percent, her biggest margin yet in the USA Today/Gallup Poll.

The poll surveyed 500 Democrats and 425 Republicans on Friday and Saturday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points within each group.