Richardson climbs in polls, but not as fast as Clinton

After showing gains in polls in Iowa and Nevada in recent weeks, Gov. Bill Richardson is slowly climbing in polls conducted this week in three additional states.

But he’s still below the margin of error in California, Florida and Michigan.

The newest polls, conducted by American Research Group, have Richardson at 3 percent in California and Florida and 2 percent in Michigan.

That’s up from 1 percent in each of those states the last time surveys were done – January in California and Florida and February in Michigan. By contrast, Hillary Clinton gained 1 percent in California, 9 percent in Florida and 3 percent in Michigan.

The newest polls in California and Florida were conducted between Friday and Tuesday. Each surveyed 600 likely Democratic caucus goers and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. The Michigan poll was conducted between Friday and Monday. It also surveyed 600 and has a margin of error of 4 percent.

In each of the three states, Clinton had a significant lead. She had 37 percent in California, 45 percent in Florida and 38 percent in Michigan. Barack Obama had 28 percent in California, 17 percent in Florida and 25 percent in Michigan. John Edwards had 15 percent in California and Florida and 14 percent in Michigan.

Richardson was fourth in California. He and Joe Biden were tied for fourth in Florida and Biden was fourth in Michigan with 3 percent. But, while Richardson has gained support in all three states, Biden has lost half his support in Florida since the last poll.

Undecideds accounted for 11 percent in the California poll and 14 percent in the Florida and Michigan polls.

This is a generalization, but it appears that Clinton, who has been at the top all along, is gaining support across the nation, while Obama and Edwards are steadily in second and third place, respectively, but not gaining a lot. Richardson is climbing, but not as quickly as Clinton is increasing her lead.

A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that Richardson and Biden are competing for third place in the three states, when they’re actually competing for fourth place.