Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton survived criticism from her party rivals in a debate Oct. 30 with her lead for the nomination unchanged, according to Newsweek's most recent poll.

The poll, released today, shows New York Senator Clinton favored by 44 percent of those polled, compared with 24 percent for Illinois Senator Barack Obama and 12 percent for former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, the magazine's poll showed in results released a year before the 2008 election.

While Clinton is favored over Obama and Edwards, her two top competitors, by Democratic female voters and has a ``marginal lead'' among male Democratic voters, Obama is stronger among younger Democrats, Newsweek said. Obama and Edwards are also stronger than Clinton among independent voters, the magazine said.

In a match-up between the two major political parties, Clinton garners 49 percent support compared with 45 percent for the leading Republican Party contender, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, Newsweek said. That is within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The telephone poll was conducted between Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 among 1,002 registered voters, Newsweek said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gopal Ratnam in Washington at gratnam1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 3, 2007 15:54 EDT