Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole holds a strong early lead among Republican voters in three key primary states in the race for the 1996 presidential nomination, according to a Time/CNN poll released Saturday.
If asked to vote for a Republican nominee for president now, 43 percent of Republican voters nationwide would choose Dole, the poll said.Texas Sen. Phil Gramm ran a distant second with 16 percent, while all other potential or declared contenders - religious commentator Pat Buchanan, California Gov. Pete Wilson, former Tennessee governor Lamar Alexander and others - drew between zero and 6 percent.
The Time/CNN poll also asked Republican voters if they might vote for retired General Colin Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, if he were a primary candidate. Fifty-two percent said yes.
Powell showed even stronger support in New Hampshire (60 percent), Florida (64 percent) and California (57 percent).