Found this. Dunno if it matters or not with respect to this poll...

It is important to note that what ARG does, as explained above, is very different from the way other pollsters ask about party ID. ARG asks about party registration on some states, party identification in others and then combines the two results into a single variable. Whatever the merits of this approach, the will results not be comparable to those of other polling organizations.

Party registration is not the same as party identification - respondents will sometimes provide a different answer when asked how they are registered as compared to which party the feel closer to. In states that require it, some voters may choose a party affiliation in order to cast a ballot in a contested primary when they "consider themselves" independent or even closer to the other party. In southern states, this phenomenon has a name - the Dixiecrat - which describes those who register as Democrats in order to vote in local primaries in areas where Democrats almost always win local general elections.

My own firm often asks about both party registration and party ID, often in the same survey (e.g. Are you registered? [If yes] are you registered as a Republican, Democrat or independent? Now regardless of how you are registered, do you consider yourself...?]. The results are often quite different. Those tempted to weight by party identification to match statistics for party registration provided by election officials risk introducing serious bias into their results.

It must have boosted Shrillary's ego. Today she released her communist manifesto. There is to be only two classes of people, the haves and the have nots. She directly stated that we should not be allowed to be individuals and freely earn what we can. Those too sorry to work should have exactly the same as those that slave at a job to advance their financial position. Evidently she and Bill have ripped off enough to go with the $3.3 million they have (recently) ripped off from the elderly to make them feel secure in communism and that they will be one of the haves. Won't happen, they will be one of the hanged by the American public that value freedom.
" Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined a broad economic vision Tuesday, saying it's time to replace an "on your own" society with one based on shared responsibility and prosperity." A quote of Shrillary Clinton

Nice catch, Lee, but as you note it may not account for the disparity in these specific cases.

McCain, of course, has thrived on attracting independent votes - it's what made him appear competitive in 2000. Hillary, OTOH, has terrible negatives among independents, so perhaps the methodology about party ID isn't what causes ARG to favor these particular candidates in poll after poll.

While most people aren't tuned into the races yet, the polls of those who are have a decided influence. For one thing, they dominate the chattering classes (including bloggers) when there isn't other, bigger news, and so influence the perception of voters as they become "tuned in" to the campaign. They also have an impact on donations, and money is the mother's milk of politics.