WASHINGTON – Howard Dean (search) holds a 14-point lead over John Kerry (search) in a poll of likely voters in New Hampshire's Democratic presidential primary amid signs that the contest is evolving into a two-man race.
Dean, the former Vermont governor, had the support of 38 percent while Kerry, the Massachusetts senator, was backed by 24 percent, according to the American Research Group (search) poll released Thursday.
Dean led Kerry by 10 percentage points in a similar survey conducted by the Manchester, N.H.-based organization in October. Then, Dean had the support of 24 percent.
The survey found that the number of undecided voters has dropped from 32 percent in August to 21 percent this month.
Others in the nine-candidate field remained in single digits. Wesley Clark, North Carolina Sen. John Edwards and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman had 4 percent each, Missouri Rep. Dick Gephardt had 3 percent. Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton had 1 percent or less.
Dean and Kerry were viewed favorably by two-thirds of voters; Gephardt was viewed favorably by just over half, 52 percent.
The poll of 600 Democrats and independents was conducted Nov. 2-5 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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