PRESIDENTIAL RACE Poll shows candidates about even

No Republican has become president without winning Ohio.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- President Bush and challenger John Kerry are about even in a poll published Sunday in The Columbus Dispatch, the newspaper's first of the general election campaign.
Bush had 46 percent to 45 percent for Kerry, with 10 percent undecided, if the election featured only the Republican incumbent against the Democratic challenger.
With consumer advocate Ralph Nader in the race, Bush leads Kerry 45 percent to 43 percent, with Nader getting 3 percent and 9 percent undecided.
Nader must submit valid signatures from at least 5,000 registered Ohio voters by Aug. 19 to qualify for the statewide ballot.
The mail survey of 3,344 randomly selected registered Ohio voters who said they intend to vote Nov. 2 was conducted March 23 through Wednesday. The poll has a margin of error of 2 percentage points, meaning Bush's lead could be 5 points, or Kerry could lead by 3 points.
The Dispatch poll results were similar to an Ohio Poll on March 26 that showed 46 percent of registered voters supported Kerry, while 44 percent backed Bush.
Issues
Ohio is expected to be a battleground state in a race whose key issues include jobs and the economy. During a visit to Akron last month, Kerry blamed Bush for the more than 200,000 jobs Ohio has lost since the president took office.
In the 2000 election, Bush won Ohio by 3.6 percentage points over Democrat Al Gore. No Republican has been elected president without winning Ohio.
The Dispatch poll also shows Bush's approval rating and his rating for handling Iraq are barely above 50 percent with 54 percent of respondents approving of the way the president has handled the economy, but 57 percent saying the country is on the wrong track.
Bush's support may be more solid than Kerry's with 54 percent of Bush backers feeling "strongly" about their selection, to 44 percent of those favoring Kerry. The Massachusetts senator is preferred by independent voters by 11 points.
Kerry has support from about 11 percent of respondents who said they voted for Bush in 2000. Bush has the backing of 4 percent of Gore backers, the poll shows.