Dole Enjoys Hefty Convention Bounce In Polls

Bob Dole clipped President Clinton’s lead to 4 points in one national poll released Monday and 7 points in another as the Republican National Convention gave Dole big gains among white women, moderates and younger voters. Ross Perot remained far behind.

A third poll also found Dole getting a hefty convention bounce, moving within 12 points of Clinton from 30 points back in a three-way matchup earlier this month.

Dole’s bounce falls shy of Clinton’s record bump from the 1992 Democratic convention, however - and this year’s Democratic gathering is still to come, next week in Chicago.

ABC News sampling of 1,022 registered voters Thursday and Sunday found Clinton supported by 44 percent, Dole 40 percent and Perot 11 percent. That’s only a slight Clinton lead considering the survey’s sampling error margin of plus or minus 3.5 points. Dole had been 19 points back two weeks ago.

A CNN-USA Today-Gallup survey Friday through Sunday of 1,006 registered voters (3-point error margin) found Clinton and Vice President Al Gore with 48 percent, Dole and Jack Kemp with 41 percent and Perot with 7 percent. That race had been 52-30-12 in an Aug. 5-7 Gallup poll.

A CBS-New York Times poll Friday through Sunday of 856 registered voters (3-point sampling error) found Clinton with 49 percent, Dole 37 percent and Perot 8 percent, compared with a 58-28-10 split Aug. 3-5.

As he accepted the presidential nomination of his Reform Party, Perot faced growing negative ratings: 59 percent in the CBS-Times poll said their opinion of Perot is unfavorable, up from 48 percent earlier this month.

Differing survey methods can lead to varying results among polls. In this case, few if any of the differences among the three polls’ horserace findings are statistically significant.