HICAGO - Polls in Michigan and Minnesota suggest Al Gore's lead over George W. Bush has narrowed, while national surveys continue to show an extremely close race.
In Michigan, considered a key battleground state, the vice president led Bush by 45 percent to 39 percent in a survey of 600 likely voters conducted Tuesday to Thursday by the EPIC/MRA polling firm and published yesterday by the Detroit Free Press.
A similar poll taken in mid-September showed Gore holding an 8-point lead over the Texas governor. The poll has a margin of error of 4 percentage points, meaning that Gore's current advantage is within the margin.
In Minnesota, the latest Star Tribune Minnesota poll showed Gore leading Bush by the same 45 percent to 39 percent among likely voters. Gore held a 10-point lead a month ago, the Minneapolis Star Tribune said Friday.
The Minnesota poll surveyed 833 people from last Saturday to Wednesday. The margin of error was plus or minus 3.4 points.
Meanwhile, Gore and Bush each won the support of 44 percent of likely voters in a Reuters/MSNBC daily tracking poll released yesterday.
The poll, conducted by John Zogby, surveyed 1,207 likely voters from Wednesday to Friday. Bush had trailed by a single point in the previous poll, published Friday, but the change was not statistically significant. Seven percent were undecided in the latest poll, which has a 3-percentage-point margin of error.
The race has been extremely tight since the Democratic convention in August. Both men face a crucial test Tuesday, when they meet in Boston for the first of their three scheduled debates.
''It really doesn't get any closer than this,'' Zogby said. ''If anything, this makes Tuesday's debate the main event and probably heightens public interest.''
Notably, Zogby reported a sharp narrowing of the gender gap in the electorate, with Bush leading among men by 3 percentage points while Gore led among women by 5 points. Three weeks ago, there was a 32-point gender gap.
A similarly tight race was reflected in the latest Newsweek magazine poll, which showed Gore ahead of Bush 47 percent to 42 percent among registered voters, while Bush led 45 to 44 percent among likely voters. However, 26 percent of registered voters were unsure.
