Obama Leads Hillary among black voters - 59 percent to 31 percent

(CNN) Reports Sen. Hillary Clinton has lost a large amount of support among African-Americans, with a majority of black Democrats now supporting Sen. Barack Obama, according to a new poll out Friday.

Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton among black voters 59 percent to 31 percent

In a national survey by CNN/Opinion Research Corp., 59 percent of black Democrats backed Obama, an Illinois Democrat, for their party's presidential nomination, with 31 percent supporting Clinton, the senator from New York.

The 28 point lead for Obama is a major reversal from October, when Clinton held a 24 point lead among black Democrats.

"There's been a huge shift among African-American Democrats from Clinton to Obama. African-American Democrats used to be reluctant to support Obama because they didn't think a black man could be elected. Then Obama won Iowa and nearly won New Hampshire. Now they believe," said Bill Schneider, CNN senior political analyst.

"Obama's lead over Clinton among black men is more than 50 points, and among black women, once a Clinton stronghold, Obama has an 11 point advantage," said CNN polling director Keating Holland.

It also appears the recent bickering between Clinton and Obama and their campaigns over race has hurt both candidates. Clinton has the support of 42 percent of all registered Democrats in the new survey, down seven points from last week's CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll. Obama has the backing of 33 percent of those questioned, down three percentage points in a week.

The beneficiary appears to be former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who jumped 5 points, to 17 percent. More HERE