Poll: Bush holds big lead over Gore, Bradley in Nevada

Monday, Oct. 4, 1999 | 9:05 a.m.

But Bush's leads over the two Democrats would be cut in half if fellow Republican Pat Buchanan competes as a Reform Party candidate, the poll found.

The same survey found former Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., holds a 17 percentage point edge over Las Vegas lawyer Ed Bernstein in the race for the seat being vacated by Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev.

Bernstein, a Democrat, hasn't formally announced his candidacy.

The poll also found most Nevadans approve of the job performance of Gov. Kenny Guinn and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, both of whom assumed office earlier this year.

The telephone survey of 627 registered voters across the state was conducted Tuesday through Thursday for the Las Vegas Review-Journal and KTNV-TV, Channel 13 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington, D.C. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

The poll found Bush would beat Bradley and Gore by 12 percentage points and 15 percentage points respectively if the election were held today in Nevada.

But if Buchanan enters the race as a Reform Party candidate, Bush would beat Gore by just 6 percentage points and Bradley by 8 percentage points.

"You can't call this race over by any stretch of the mind," said Brad Coker, Mason-Dixon president. "There are so many wild cards. The numbers at this point show Buchanan as a spoiler."

Without Buchanan, Bush was supported by 49 percent of respondents, compared with 34 percent for Gore and 17 percent undecided. He leads Bradley 47 percent to 35 percent with 18 percent undecided.

But the margin narrows with Buchanan in the race. Bush took 42 percent compared with 36 percent for Gore, 9 percent for Buchanan and 13 percent undecided.

With Bradley as his opponent, Bush captured 42 percent compared with 34 percent for Bradley, 9 percent for Buchanan and 15 percent undecided.

In the potential Senate matchup, 49 percent of respondents favored Ensign, 32 percent chose Bernstein and 19 percent were undecided.

Ensign lost by 428 votes in November to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who won a third term.

Guinn, a Republican who took office in January, received an excellent or good job performance rating from 53 percent of those surveyed. Another 32 percent gave him a fair rating, while 5 percent rated him as poor. Ten percent were undecided.

After four months as Las Vegas mayor, Goodman's job performance was rated as excellent or good by 55 percent of respondents. Twenty-five percent rated him fair and 7 percent rated him poor. Thirteen percent were undecided.