Sun-Sentinel - If the Florida Democratic primary were held today, Graham would bury his rivals for the presidential nomination, the poll shows.
He was the choice of 49 percent of the Democrats sampled, followed by Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, who each drew 10 percent. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts was favored by 8 percent of Democratic voters, and five other candidates drew 6 percent or less.
In a hypothetical matchup between Bush and Graham, the poll of 600 voters -- Democrats, Republicans and independents -- put the president ahead 53 percent to 40 percent, with 7 percent undecided.
"It's good news for both Bush and Graham," said Del Ali, president of Research 2000, an independent polling firm based in Rockville, Md., which conducted the poll June 7 to 11.
"Bush can say, `Bob Graham is a very popular senator and former governor, and I not only lead him in his own state, but the margin is in double-digits,'" Ali observed. "Bob Graham can say, `Right now, paired up against a guy at his zenith -- a commander in chief who just had a successful military operation -- I'm only 13 points down.'"
"These are not bad numbers for Graham at this point. If the question is: `Can Bob Graham beat George Bush in Florida,' no doubt he can."
"The fact that at this stage Bush has an advantage is not a surprise at all. The same could be said about the 1992 election, when George Bush the elder was president," said George Gonzalez, assistant professor of political science at the University of Miami. "A year and a half before the election, Bill Clinton was barely a blip on the radar screen in public opinion polls.
"With Al Gore dropping out of the race [last year], you basically have a very low-visibility set of Democratic candidates."
The exception is Lieberman, who has been visible in Florida since the 2000 campaign, yet drew support from only 10 percent of the 500 Democrats who were polled.
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