ONCORD, N.H. - Vice President Al Gore and Republican front-runner George W. Bush are getting most of their support in New Hampshire from women, according to a Dartmouth College-Associated Press poll.
The gender gap could be especially helpful to Gore's effort in the Democratic primary, because women tend to outnumber men among Democratic voters in the state.
Overall, Gore held a slight lead over former Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey, 48 percent to 41 percent, among 367 likely Democratic voters in the nation's earliest primary. The margin of error was plus or minus 5 percentage points.
Gore's lead was wider among women who expect to vote in the Democratic primary, 53 percent to 35 percent.
Men favored Bradley, a former professional basketball player, 54-38.
In the Republican race, Bush was favored by 44 percent of those likely to vote in the GOP primary, compared with 31 percent who said they would vote for Senator John McCain of Arizona. Steve Forbes, at 11 percent, was the only one of four other candidates who was in double digits.
Women favored Bush over McCain, 47-26, while men split 39 percent for Bush and 38 percent for McCain.
Dartmouth's Rockefeller Center conducted the telephone poll from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3.
Linda Fowler, the center's director, said reasons for the gender gap are more complicated than male admiration for Bradley's sports career and McCain's war record. She noted, for example, that Gore draws strong support among voters who view President Clinton favorably, and many such voters are women.
The poll said that about one-third of New Hampshire Democrats were not strongly committed to either Gore or Bradley.
''The candidates are still defining themselves in the minds of the voters,'' Fowler said.
''My expectation is they'll continue to seesaw for a while.''
