Primary Exit Polls Reveal Bipartisan Interest in Perot

Neither President Bush nor Democrat Bill Clinton could take much satisfaction from results of exit polls in Tuesday’s primaries, but Texas industrialist H. Ross Perot might--although his name was not on any ballot.

Exit polls of voters in New York, Kansas, Wisconsin and Minnesota indicated the kind of support Perot might be able to command if he were to run as an independent candidate for President in November. The surveys showed support for him, at least in those four states, ranging from the high teens to 30%.

The polls were taken by Voter Research and Surveys, a consortium formed in 1990 by ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN. The results generally have a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Perot, a Texas computer magnate, has said he will run as a third-party candidate in the fall if his supporters can get his name on the ballot in all 50 states--an effort that is under way.

Perot is worth more than $2 billion and has said he would spend up to $100 million of his own money on such a bid.

The exit polls indicated that 26% of Kansas Democrats and 27% of Kansas Republicans would vote for Perot in November if their choices were Bush, Clinton, Perot or not voting.

In Minnesota, 30% of Democrats picked Perot, as did 17% of Republicans. In Wisconsin, 29% of the Democrats and 15% of the Republicans cited Perot.

New York did not have a GOP primary. Among Democrats, exit polls showed Perot could expect to get 16% of their votes in November.