CAMPAIGN ’88 : Hart, Bush Lead in Poll

Former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart and Vice President George Bush lead the field in 12 Southern and border states casting ballots in the Super Tuesday primaries March 8, a Gallup Poll released Tuesday shows.

The poll of likely voters or caucus-goers shows Bush as the favorite of 54% of Republicans. Twenty-five percent favored Kansas Sen. Bob Dole. Trailing the GOP field were former television evangelist Pat Robertson with 7%; Rep. Jack Kemp of New York with 5% and former Delaware Gov. Pierre S. (Pete) du Pont IV and former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. with 2% each. Five percent were undecided.

Among Democrats, Hart had 27%; Jesse Jackson had 21%, and Tennessee Sen. Albert Gore Jr. had 17%. Rounding out the field were Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis with 8%; Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri, 6%; Sen. Paul Simon of Illinois, 5%, and former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt, 2%. Fourteen percent were undecided.

The Gallup telephone survey was taken last weekend in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia. The poll had a 6% error rate among Republicans and 5% among Democrats.

Another poll had good news for Gephardt. A poll of Iowans by Boston television station WBZ indicates he is moving up.

The poll, taken last weekend among 400 likely Democratic caucus attendees, suggests 19% would vote for Gephardt, compared to 16% for Hart, 15% Simon, 13% Dukakis, 6% Jackson, 5% Babbitt, and 2% Gore.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points, WBZ officials said. Because of that, the numbers did not point to a clear front-runner among the cluster of leading candidates.

However, Gephardt’s showing had improved since a similar poll taken by the television station one month ago. That poll indicated 14% would vote for Gephardt. Hart dropped from 22%.