OHIO Before debate, Bush led in state, Columbus newspaper poll shows

Ohio is a battleground state in the election.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- President Bush holds a 7 percentage point lead over Democratic challenger John Kerry in a poll conducted by The Columbus Dispatch primarily before last week's presidential debate.
Fifty-one percent of respondents said they would vote for Bush, while 44 percent favored Kerry, according to the poll published in Sunday's editions. Four percent chose independent candidate Ralph Nader, whose campaign is fighting to have the consumer advocate restored to the Ohio ballot, while 1 percent said they were undecided.
It was the first time in the four Dispatch polls during the campaign that Bush has won support from a majority of respondents.
The results were similar to an Ohio Poll released Sept. 21. That poll showed 54 percent of likely voters supported Bush, while Kerry was favored by 43 percent, 2 percent supported Nader and 1 percent was undecided.
However, a poll conducted by Newsweek since the debate Thursday night showed Kerry running even with Bush. The Newsweek poll showed Kerry had the support of 47 percent and Bush 45 percent, with Nader at 2 percent.
The Newsweek poll of 1,013 registered voters was taken from late Thursday to early Saturday and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The Dispatch poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. The mail poll, conducted Sept. 22 through Friday, was based on returns from 2,859 registered Ohio voters who said they intend to vote Nov. 2, and included responses from 4 percent who said they registered to vote this year. The poll had a response rate of 24 percent.
Key state
Ohio is a key battleground state, with 20 electoral votes. Candidates have been making near-weekly visits -- Bush campaigned in Columbus, Mansfield and the Akron area Saturday, and Kerry visited Cleveland and the Youngstown area Sunday.
The vice presidential candidates debate Tuesday in Cleveland, and the presidential candidates will have their second debate Friday in St. Louis.
Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell ruled that forged signatures on petition forms and petitions circulated by non-Ohioans left Nader short of the 5,000 signatures required to qualify for the Ohio ballot.
The poll also reported that Sen. George Voinovich widened his lead over Democratic challenger state Sen. Eric Fingerhut, 56 percent to 34 percent. Voinovich led by 14 points in an Aug. 29 poll.
A Dispatch poll published Monday showed that 63 percent of voters support a proposed constitutional amendment that would limit marriage to one man and one woman and invalidate attempts to recognize civil unions.
The issue is supported in every region of the state, but especially in southeastern Ohio, where five of every six respondents back the proposal. According to the poll, 30 percent oppose the amendment.
The results of the latest poll were similar to those of one published Aug. 29. That poll found 62 percent supported the amendment, and 26 percent opposed it.
The mail poll of 2,858 randomly chosen registered Ohio voters was conducted Sept. 22 through Friday. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.