ill Bradley, who is depending on strong support in the Northeast to keep his presidential candidacy competitive, is losing ground in Massachusetts to Al Gore, a new University of Massachusetts poll shows.
According to the survey taken Jan. 13-16, the vice president has bounced back among Massachusetts Democrats, earning support from 42 percent of poll respondents, while Bradley received 36 percent. Another 19 percent were undecided. A similar UMass poll in October showed Bradley leading, 43 percent to 35 percent.
Lou DiNatale, director of the quarterly UMass poll, which first picked up Bradley's surge in the Bay State in June, said the swing to Gore spells trouble for the former New Jersey senator with Massachusetts's primary looming March 7.
''Bill Bradley can no longer count on winning Massachusetts,'' DiNatale said.
Because the poll's margin of error is 6 percent, the rivals are actually in a statistical dead heat.
The turnaround comes even after Bradley spent twice as much as Gore on television advertising in Boston aimed for the most part at New Hampshire voters. Bradley has aired $2.2 million worth of ads since early November.
The poll also shows that both Democrats enjoy leads over the top Republican candidates. Gore leads Texas Governor George W. Bush 52 percent to 28 percent, a major reversal from October's survey in which Bush led Gore 46 percent to 38 percent.
Bradley also beat Bush in Massachusetts, 51 percent to 31 percent. Those figures were similar to Bradley's October lead of 48 percent to 34 percent. Bradley tops Arizona Senator John McCain 49 percent to 30 percent. In October, Bradley was leading McCain 51 percent to 25 percent.
Gore, who trailed McCain in October by 5 percentage points now leads him 47 percent to 29 percent, with 19 percent undecided.
Four hundred people participated in the poll, conducted by the school's McCormack Institute.
