WASHINGTON —  The hypothetical pairing of Democrat John Kerry (search) and Republican Sen. John McCain (search) holds a double-digit lead over the Republican ticket of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney (search), a new poll finds.

Kerry-McCain has a 14-point advantage over Bush-Cheney among registered voters, 53 percent to 39 percent, in the latest CBS News poll. The results were released Thursday.

The lead is nearly double the edge Kerry alone enjoys over Bush.

McCain set off speculation in April when he said he would consider an offer from Kerry, a Senate colleague and fellow Vietnam veteran, to be his running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket.

But McCain has said several times since then that he supports Bush's re-election and does not want to be anyone's vice president, although he continues to be talked about as a possible choice for Kerry.

A random sample of 1,113 adults was interviewed by telephone for the CBS News poll, which was conducted May 20-23. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, larger for subgroups.