20000117

US vote polls Bush retains lead over Gore

WASHINGTON: Two polls released confirmed that Republican presidential hopeful George W Bush retains a lead in voting intentions over the likely Democratic candidate, Vice President Al Gore.

The first of the two polls was carried out for Time and CNN, and interviewed 1,564 adults. It found that Bush would win next November's presidential election if he stood as Republican candidate against Gore as Democratic candidate.

However the lead Ñ of 50 percent support for Bush, against 45 percent of support for Gore Ñ was narrower than in a CNN/Time poll carried out a week ago, when Bush was at 56 percent and Gore at 39 percent.

When this week's poll factored in Pat Buchanan as a possible Reform Party candidate, Bush would still win, with 47 percent of the vote, leaving 42 percent for Gore and 6 percent for Buchanan.

A second poll, in which 754 adults were interviewed for Newsweek magazine, found that Bush leads Gore by 53 percent to 40 percent.

On the selection of presidential candidates by the two leading parties, both polls continued to show that Bush and Gore are the likely choices.

The CNN/Time poll asked Republican voters who they would support as candidate, and found that Bush, with 61 percent, retained a strong lead over his closest rival, Arizona Senator John McCain with 16 percent.

The Newsweek poll similarly found Bush with 60 percent of Republican support and McCain with 18 percent.

Among Democrats, the Newsweek poll found Gore enjoyed support from 53 percent of those questioned, compared with 23 percent for his closest Democratic rival, former New Jersey senator Bill Bradley. AFP