Opinion: Bill Clinton vs. Hillary Clinton: Who wins?

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The combative Democratic presidential primary ended with Bill and Hillary Clinton essentially tied ... with each other (though perhaps with a slight edge for the ex-president).

In the new L.A. Times/Bloomberg national poll, 52% of registered voters expressed positive feelings about Bill and 49% said the same about Hillary -- a gap well within the survey’s margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Negative attitudes toward the two also are about the same -- 36% gave Bill the thumbs down, while 39% said they didn’t much care for Hillary.

But Bill gains an advantage when comparing the gap between their positive and negative numbers. The margin for him is plus 16 points, for her its plus 10 points.

The poll gave Barack Obama a double-digit lead in his White House matchup with John McCain, and this preference among voters is reflected, not surprisingly, in their attitudes toward the two.

In the survey, 59% said they felt positively about Obama while 27% expressed negative feelings -- a difference of plus 32 points.

For McCain, the numbers were 47% positive, 35% negative, a difference of plus 12 points.

The overarching political trends McCain is grappling with were underscored by the results for three similar questions.

Asked about the Democratic Party, 51% said they felt positively about it, 30% negatively, a margin of plus 21 points.

The numbers for the Republican Party were 29% positive, 53% negative, a margin of minus 24 points.

But here’s the major drag on all things GOP. Asked about President Bush, 24% gave him positive marks, 68% negative ones -- a difference of minus 44 points.

-- Don Frederick