U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was accused of elitism by his rivals in the presidential race after the 46-year-old Illinois Senator said at a fundraiser in San Francisco that people who live in Pennsylvania’s small towns are "bitter" and "cling to guns or religion".

Both Hillary Clinton, his rival for the party nomination, and John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, saw the chance and picked on Obama’s remarks on Friday.

"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama said in his speech at the fund raiser while he was campaigning in Indiana.

"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations," he said.

Clinton actually said during a speech held in Philadelphia that Obama’s words showed that he looks down on voters in Pennsylvania. The primaries in this state are scheduled for April 22 and will most likely decide the nominee of the Democratic Party.

Clinton said during the rally that the state of Pennsylvania doesn’t need a president that looks down on them, but one who would stand up for them and works hard so they can have a better future.

New York Senator Hillary Clinton, once had a double digit lead over Obama in Pennsylvania polls, but recent polls show that Clinton’s lead has decreased to about 4 to 6 points.

Clinton not only lost numerous blue-collar voters, her biggest supporters so far, but her popularity among white women has also begun to decline in Pennsylvania.

Clinton’s support decreased 6 percentage points in a week among white women according to a survey carried out by Quinnipiac University between April 3 and 6. About 26 percent of the women polled said they liked Clinton less now than in January.