Poll: Kerry, Specter maintain leads in Pa.

[Freddie Stubbs]

By Peter Jackson
The Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. | -- Sen. John Kerry maintains a slight lead over President Bush in Pennsylvania, according to a new poll that shows clear differences in how voters perceive the two candidates but reflects little movement on the major issues of the campaign.

Kerry, the Democratic candidate, was supported by 46 percent and the Republican president by 42 percent of 1,980 registered voters in the independent survey by the Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. Ten percent of the respondents were undecided.

Among a smaller group of 1,343 likely voters, including undecided people who said they were leaning toward one candidate or the other, the candidates were about even with Kerry at 49 percent, Bush at 47 percent and 4 percent undecided.

In a three-way race that included independent candidate Ralph Nader, who is fighting in state courts to qualify for the Pennsylvania ballot, Kerry was backed by 46 percent of registered voters, while Bush was favored by 43 percent and Nader by 3 percent. Seven percent were undecided.

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