According to a new USA Today/Gallup poll 60% of Democrats think both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama should continue to campaign for the Democratic nomination. 23% think Clinton should drop out, and 15% say Obama should drop out.

From The Swamp:

“There have been calls for Clinton to drop out, given Obama’s lead in pledged delegates, which he built up in a string of primary and caucus victories in February,” Gallup’s Jones notes. “Those calls have been quieted to some extent with Clinton’s big wins in the March 4 Ohio and Texas primaries and the April 22 Pennsylvania primary. Even so, she is unlikely to overcome the delegate deficit unless she can convince a disproportionate amount of undecided superdelegates to support her candidacy.

“Democrats’ opinions about the next steps in the campaign are, not surprisingly, highly influenced by the candidate they currently favor,” he adds. “Obama supporters are about evenly divided between favoring a continuation of the campaign and wanting to see Clinton drop out and concede to Obama. Clinton supporters mostly favor having the campaign continue, obviously to allow Clinton a chance to catch up to Obama, while the remainder say Obama should drop out.”

I don’t think either of them are going to drop out of the race until one reaches the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination - they’ve gone too far, spent too much money and worked too hard to give up now. This is technically great for states that typically don’t get a say in the nomination process, but not so great in terms of party divisiveness. It’s hard to imagine Clinton or Obama throwing support behind the candidate who wins the nomination after all the mud-slinging they’ve done.

All signs point to those 60% of Democrats getting their wish - polls have shown that Clinton and Obama could be close in both Indiana and North Carolina and may end up splitting the total of 187 delegates that are up for grabs today.

According to CNN, Obama is ahead of Clinton by 143 delegates (counting both pledged delegates and superdelegates). He’s also sneaking up on her superdelegate lead - Obama has 252 and Clinton has 266, according to CNN.

If Clinton can pull of convincing, double-digit wins in Indiana and/or North Carolina, she may be able to convince undecided superdelegates that voters are doubting Obama. However, if superdelegates rush to back Clinton and ignore Obama’s lead in pledged delegates and the popular vote, it will get ugly. She’ll have to fight “elitist” accusations if the superdelegates - mostly party officials, insiders and “elite” - are the ones to pull her through to win the nomination.

Stay tuned to SeattlePoliticore as results begin to trickle in from Indiana and North Carolina, and for continued reports from Will Mari, Laura Mansfield and Meg Peters on the road in Indiana.