WASHINGTON -- Steve Forbes rode voters' tax concerns to a No. 2 finish in Iowa's Republican presidential caucuses -- and he has a history of strong support on that issue in New Hampshire, famous for its abhorrence of taxes.

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But a poll of Iowa caucus-goers held longer-term good news for GOP winner George W. Bush, should he become his party's nominee: His support was strongest among the moderates who would dominate the general election, while he still captured a plurality of even the staunchest conservatives.

In the Democratic caucuses Monday night, Al Gore was helped more than hurt by his seven years as vice president under President Clinton, according to Voter News Service entrance polls for The Associated Press and other news organizations.

On the Republican side, the issue that helped Forbes most was taxes, even though voters cited moral values more frequently as the top issue. Among the 35 percent who chose moral values, Bush beat Forbes 37 percent to 15 percent, with 28 percent for Alan Keyes and 16 percent for Gary Bauer.

One in four picked taxes as the top issue, and 55 percent of them favored Forbes. Bush got 38 percent, nearly as much as his overall vote -- suggesting Forbes hurt the other candidates more than Bush on that issue.

In the 1996 New Hampshire GOP primary exit polls, 21 percent of voters picked taxes as the top issue and Forbes won support from 32 percent of them -- 10 points more than the nearest competitor. Yet overall, Forbes finished a distant fourth in that contest, behind Pat Buchanan, Bob Dole and Lamar Alexander.

There are limits to using past voter surveys in looking ahead to New Hampshire next week. The candidate field in 1996 was much different; McCain, who is battling Bush over tax cuts, is expected to do much better in New Hampshire than in Iowa, where he did not campaign; and the context in which voters pick a top issue can change substantially.

Yet it's clear that taxes have been by far Forbes' strongest issue: 44 percent of his supporters Monday night and 54 percent of his 1996 New Hampshire backers picked taxes as most important.

Forbes also was the choice Monday night of self-described independents, by 41 percent to 29 percent for Bush. Independents may be a decisive bloc in New Hampshire, where voters not aligned with either party now outnumber registered Republicans or Democrats and may vote in either primary.

But again, McCain is expected to be much more of a factor, judging by New Hampshire pre-primary polls. And in Iowa he did get 10 percent of the independent vote, twice his overall support.

Bush benefited from a fractured conservative vote in Iowa. He won 40 percent of all conservatives to 30 percent for Forbes. Keyes and Bauer appeared to grab some of the "very conservative" vote from Bush, but Bush still had a 34 percent plurality among that group. Bush won 45 percent of the "somewhat conservative" and 47 percent of self-described moderates.

In the Democratic caucuses, Bradley won six in 10 voters who disapproved of the job Clinton is doing as president, but only 13 percent disapproved. And while voters were split on whether they viewed Clinton favorably or unfavorably as a person, Gore won three in four of those Clinton supporters.

Any downside from Gore's seven years in the Clinton administration was far outweighed by the benefits: 21 percent cited experience as the most important candidate quality, and 92 percent of them supported Gore; 20 percent said strong leadership was the top quality, and three-quarters of them voted for Gore.

Among self-described independents in the Democratic caucuses, 42 percent supported Bradley, 39 percent Gore.

Results are from VNS entrance polls of 1,700 Republican and 1,078 Democratic caucus-goers. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points in the GOP poll and 4 points in the Democratic survey.