The Asssociated Press
RAN 03-Feb.-96
by JOE MAGRUDER
Associated Press Staff
   CONCORD -- Another poll suggests that Steve Forbes has pulled even
   with or passed Bob Dole in New Hampshire.
   
   Among likely voters in the Feb. 20 Republican primary, one in five
   hasn't decided, however, and half say they might change their minds in
   the remaining 2-1/2 weeks.
   
   Furthermore, both Dole and Forbes supporters question their man's
   electability. Half of the 413 people polled believe Clinton would beat
   either Dole or Forbes, the Boston Herald/WCVB-TV poll found.
   
   ``The lack of confidence in both of the two current front-runners
   suggests that an opportunity exists for one of the second-tier
   candidates to emerge,'' said Kelly Myers, director of the University
   of New Hampshire Survey Center.
   
   Forbes got 29 percent to Dole's 24 percent in the poll, conducted
   Wednesday and Thursday by UNH. That's within the poll's margin of
   error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
   
   In the last Herald-WCVB poll, in mid-December, Dole led Forbes 35
   percent to 16 percent.
   
   The new poll, released Friday, gave Pat Buchanan 11 percent, Lamar
   Alexander 6 percent, Phil Gramm 5 percent and Dick Lugar 2 percent.
   
   Forbes, a political neophyte who has gained prominence with a
   television advertising blitz, had always trailed Dole in the polls
   before this week.
   
   A poll released Thursday gave him a 31 percent to 22 percent edge,
   however, and a poll early this week also had the two statistically
   tied.
   
   Forbes does especially well among independents, who may vote in party
   primaries in New Hampshire. In Friday's poll, he led Dole among
   independents 38 percent to 11 percent.
   
   Based on the number of voters willing to change their minds and their
   doubts about whether either Forbes or Dole could beat Clinton, Myers
   called the race ``highly volatile.''
   
   Myers said the survey challenges the traditional view that personal
   contact with the candidates is key to winning the New Hampshire
   primary. Only about 4 percent of likely voters had seen Dole or Forbes
   in person, about the same percentage that had not seen a Forbes or
   Dole television commercial.
   
   
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