ASHINGTON - The presidential race is close in two national tracking polls, which reflect the gains by Al Gore since the Democratic convention.
Also, a poll released yesterday showed that Gore has widened his lead over George W. Bush in the vote-rich state of Michigan.
The Democratic presidential candidate leads his Republican rival Bush by 52 percent to 41 percent in the survey of 600 likely voters conducted last weekend by SurveyUSA for WDIV-TV in Detroit.
A poll of 600 likely Michigan voters released Friday by the Detroit Free Press and Wayne State University found that Gore led Bush by 45 percent to 37 percent. A Sept. 11 poll conducted by SurveyUSA found the two were in a dead heat, tied at 46 percent each.
In addition, Gore has gained a 10-point lead in a new poll in Arizona, where Bush held a 14-point lead in May.
''If Gore is ahead in Arizona, that does not bode well for the Bush campaign nationally, because it's a moderate, Republican state, a heavily Republican state,'' said Bruce Merrill, a pollster and professor at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism.
Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer said Republican polling in the state shows the governor still ahead.
Bush had a 17-point lead in Nebraska, the same as in May.
