Perot Outruns Bush, Clinton in 2 Polls

Texas billionaire Ross Perot ran slightly ahead of President Bush and trounced Bill Clinton in new statewide polls published Wednesday in California and Colorado.

The media-sponsored polls gave another boost to the independent presidential campaign that Perot says he will mount if supporters get him on November ballots across the country.

In a three-way matchup in California, Perot would take 38%, Bush 32% and Clinton 20%. The poll of 808 registered voters was taken by Mason-Dixon Political-Media Research between April 30 and May 4 and was published in Clinton’s hometown newspaper, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The survey’s error margin is plus or minus 3.5 points.

In Colorado, Perot would win 35% of the votes, Bush 30% and Clinton 16%, according to a poll of 503 registered voters taken for the Denver Post and KCNC-TV between April 24 and May 3. Without Perot, Bush leads Clinton, 47% to 31%. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.