Gore Sees Domestic Issues Re-Emerging for ’92 Races : Politics: The senator keeps his options open on seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

Sen. Albert Gore Jr. (D-Tenn.) said Sunday that a Democrat “absolutely” could win the presidency in 1992, but added that he has not yet decided whether to seek his party’s nomination again.

Although recent polls have shown that President Bush’s popularity soared in the wake of allied victory in the Persian Gulf, Gore said that by the time the next presidential election comes around, Americans will be more concerned about issues such as medical care, employment, education and the environment.

“American families in November, 1992, are going to be interested in how they’re going to make ends meet, how they are going to educate their kids, how are they going to pay for health care,” Gore said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Personally, I think the issues that are going to dominate the election in 1992 are going to be the domestic economic issues, the bread-and-butter issues.”

As for his own political plans, Gore, who ran unsuccessfully for the 1988 Democratic nomination, said: “I really and truly have not decided, and I have not set a deadline for deciding. I am certainly thinking about it.”

Results of a nationwide Times Mirror Co. poll, released last week, indicated surging support for the Republican Party, and that those who identify themselves as Republicans outnumbered Democrats, 36% to 29%.

Gore, noting that 20 months remain before the next presidential election, predicted that voters will rally toward the Democrats because “we traditionally focus on problems that are of most concern to American families.” Historically, he said, the Democratic Party has tried “to improve the standard of living and way of life for the average American family.”

“People are optimistic about the future,” he added. “We’re going to have a great, bright future in this country . . . but in order to achieve it, we need the kinds of initiatives that Democrats have been associated with. That’s where the Democratic Party’s strong suit comes in.”

For one thing, Gore said, there should be new emphasis on America’s ability to compete with other nations. “We’ve got classrooms in this country using textbooks that say: ‘Some day we will land a man on the moon.’ They’re not using those textbooks in Japan.”

Gore, who supported the resolution authorizing the use of force in the Persian Gulf, dismissed the idea that Democrats who opposed the war would be hurt politically. Republicans who have suggested that have “dishonored our finest traditions,” he said.

“I think the American people were really and truly proud of the way Congress and the country debated and decided whether or not to go to war in the Persian Gulf,” he said.