Bush Leads Nevada Straw Poll; Large Faction Undecided

Vice President George Bush led in a presidential straw poll Thursday of Nevada Republicans. Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole ran third as a result of heavy balloting by undecided caucus-goers--many of them Pat Robertson backers.

With 99% of the votes counted from caucuses around the state, Bush had 1,320 votes while Dole had 1,112 votes. There were 1,145 undecided votes in the non-binding straw poll.

Robertson, a former religious broadcaster, had 714 votes while Rep. Jack Kemp had 634 votes, former Delaware Gov. Pierre S. (Pete) du Pont IV got 30 votes and former Secretary of State Alexander M. Haig Jr. got six.

Both Du Pont and Haig have withdrawn from the race.

Steve Wark, Robertson coordinator in Nevada, said many Robertson voters cast undecided ballots in the straw poll in an effort to control later voting for delegates to upcoming county conventions.

“We knew that the Dole and Bush people would get together to try and squash us if we came out strong in the straw poll,” Wark said.

Whether the strategy worked remains to be seen. The make-up of the delegations to the county conventions will not be known for several more days and even then delegates will not have to publicly declare their presidential preferences.