Dukakis Takes Early Lead Over Bush;Concern About Economy, Aversion to Vice President Surface in Poll
Negative views of Vice President Bush and declining confidence in the future of the economy and the country have combined to help give Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis an early double-digit lead in a presidential trial heat for November.</br></br>The latest Washington Post-ABC News Poll of 1,172 randomly selected registered voters found Dukakis-the likely Democratic nominee-ahead of Bush-who has cinched the Republican nomination-53 to 40 percent. However, nearly half of each candidate's support is soft and could easily shift in coming months.</br></br>Last March, when the two first emerged as probable general-election rivals, Dukakis led by 5 points. Tom Kiley, a senior political strategist for Dukakis, said that the latest poll and similar findings by other news organizations "come out at a time when Dukakis appears to be a very impressive winner" in a series of primaries against his lone remaining challenger, Jesse L. Jackson. "None of us suffers from the illusion we'll continue to see these margins. We expect a very tough race. But it's hard not to be encouraged."</br></br>The survey made it clear that Dukakis, at this point, is benefiting more from voters' aversion to Bush and declining confidence in President Reagan and his policies than from deep-seated personal appeal.</br></br>Almost three of every five Dukakis supporters in the poll-57 percent-said they plan to vote for him largely because they don't want Bush to win rather than because they like Dukakis. About two out of five Bush partisans said they see their vote as against Dukakis rather than for Bush.