WASHINGTON, July 12 (UPI) -- A poll of registered voters in New Hampshire, a state critical to George W. Bush's hopes for re-election, shows the president may be in for a tough time.
Sen. John F. Kerry leads Bush by 3 points in a head-to-head match up, 48 percent to 45 percent, inside the poll's plus or minus 4.8 percent margin of error.
When liberal independent Ralph Nader is included in the ballot test, however, Bush pulls ahead by a hair, finishing on top with 45 percent to 44 percent for Kerry, while Nader was at 4 percent.
In the 2000 presidential contest, Bush narrowly defeated former Vice President Al Gore, taking 48 percent of the vote -- and the states four electoral votes -- to Gore's 47 percent and 4 percent for Ralph Nader, who ran that year as the candidate of the Green Party.
The poll, conducted between June 18 and 20 by the Becker Institute, surveyed 401 registered New Hampshire voters, 40 percent of whom were identified as independents.
