Hillary Clinton might have won California’s Democratic primary in February, but the state’s Democrats now prefer rival Barack Obama by a huge margin. And both Obama and Clinton would crush Republican John McCain if the November election were held today.

Those are the results of a Field Poll released today that boosts the hopes of Democratic operatives who want to avoid spending tens of millions of dollars to make sure the Golden State’s 55 electoral votes end up in the Democratic column in November.

According to the new poll, both Clinton and Obama beat McCain in 17-point landslides - seemingly jettisoning the notion from the McCain campaign that California is “in play.”

“The poll is really good news for the Democratic Party,” said Barbara O’Connor, director of the Institute for the Study of Politics and the Media at California State University-Sacramento.

Though Clinton beat Obama by 8 percentage points in February, the most recent poll has a majority of California Democrats preferring her rival - 51 percent to 38 percent.

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