Independent Ross Perot got out of the presidential race Thursday in part because he was dropping in polls across the country - and he'd dropped out of first place in Utah as well, the latest Deseret News/KSL-TV poll shows.
On the eve of Democrat Bill Clinton's nomination acceptance speech on national TV and a visit to Utah Friday by President Bush, the new poll shows Bush regained his lead in the state, Perot slipped to second and, unfortunately for Clinton, the new Democratic nominee still finishes a distant third.Clinton will try to better that standing tonight as he gives his nomination speech - clearly the most important address of his political career.
A month ago, Bush fell behind Perot in Utah for the first time. But revelations about Perot's alleged investigations of Bush and others and some significant Perot-bashing by the president apparently turned the tables again.
Pollster Dan Jones & Associates found in a recent poll that if the presidential election were held today, Bush would have 38 percent support, Perot would get 34 percent and Clinton trails the pack at 12 percent support. Two percent mentioned someone else and 13 percent were undecided, Jones found.
Just a month ago, Perot got 42 percent support to Bush's 32 percent. Clinton had only 10 percent support, Jones found in a June 2-3 survey.
So in just a month, Perot dropped 8 percentage points and Bush gained 6 percentage points - showing the uncertainty in the race.
To get a feel for the depth and breadth of Perot's support in Utah, Jones asked two more questions of those who said they support Perot. And those results aren't good news for the Texas billionaire. No doubt such "softness" in Perot's support, both in Utah and across America, is one reason he opted out of the race Thursday.
Jones found that more than half of Perot's support in Utah is soft - 56 percent of those who told Jones they support Perot said he gets their support not because they like him but because they don't like Bush or Clinton. Thirty-nine percent of Perot backers said they support Perot because they like him.
That means if Bush and Clinton convinced those 56 percent of Perot supporters that they're a better man for the job of president, Perot's support would have dropped by half - a devastating number.
Perot was always something of a mystery man - many Utahns feeling they didn't have a grasp on what he proposed to do if elected. Jones found that only 10 percent of Perot's supporters said they know a great deal about Perot's stands on the issues.
Nearly half - 47 percent - said they know some of his stands. Twenty-nine percent said, while they do support him, they know just a little about Perot's stands on the issues. Eight percent of Perot's supporters said they know almost nothing about his stands.
And 4 percent said they don't care about his stands on the issues, they support him because of the man he is, Jones found.
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(Poll)
Deseret News/KSL-TV poll
If the presidential election were held today and the candidates were George Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot, for whom would you vote?
George Bush (R) 38%
Bill Clinton (D) 12%
Ross Perot (I) 34%
Other 2%
Don't know 13%
Conducted June 30-July 1, 1992. Sample size: 600. Error: +/- 4% 1992 Deseret News. Conducted by Dan Jones & Associates.