POLITICS 88 : CAMPAIGN ’88 : Bush, Dole in California
Even though Vice President George Bush holds a 12-point edge over Kansas Sen. Bob Dole among California Republicans, a poll released during the weekend said Dole has a better chance of beating any Democratic nominee.
On Friday, the California Poll showed Bush’s lead over Dole in California narrowed from a margin of 43% to 22% last November to a 38-to-26 margin now. Dukakis led Democratic voters with 27%, followed by Jackson with 13%.
The poll indicated California voters would prefer Dole over Dukakis, 45% to 43%, but would elect Dukakis over Bush, 52% to 43%.
The same situation would apply, the poll found, if non-candidate Mario M. Cuomo were to be matched against Bush or Dole. Cuomo, the governor of New York, would beat Bush 47% to 42%, but if Cuomo were the Democratic nominee, Dole would carry the nation’s most populous state, 47% to 44%.
Bush would lose to Gephardt and run even with Simon, pollster Mervin Field said.
Dole, on the other hand, had an 8-point lead in the hypothetical match-up with Gephardt and a 22-point lead over Simon.
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