HAMDEN, Conn. (AP) -- President Bush leads all Democratic challengers -- and even some who have not entered the 2004 presidential race -- in a national poll released Wednesday.
The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute found that Bush outdistanced his rivals by at least 10 points or more in the survey conducted Sept. 11-15.
Bush was favored 52-41 percent over Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, 51-39 percent over Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and 53-38 percent over former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.
The president also easily bested two Democrats not in the race -- former Vice President Al Gore, Bush's opponent in 2000, and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Bush was favored 53-41 percent over Gore, and 52-42 percent over the former first lady.
The survey was not all good news for the president. Sixty-seven percent of those polled said the economy will matter more to them than the U.S.-led war against Iraq when they go to the voting booth in November 2004.
Fifty percent of those surveyed disapprove of the way Bush has handled the economy, while 44 percent approve.
Voters, by a 49-42 percent margin, said that a Democratic administration would do a better job.
Those polled supported the war 58-37 percent, but they are evenly split on the $87 billion price tag.
The poll surveyed 1,228 registered voters nationwide by telephone. It had a margin of error of plus or minus of 3 percentage points.
