WASHINGTON – President Bush and Democrat John Kerry (search) are tied in a two-way presidential race in Pennsylvania, according to a poll out Wednesday. When Ralph Nader is included in the matchup, Bush has a slight lead.
Kerry had the backing of 45 percent of Pennsylvania voters and Bush 44 percent in the state narrowly won by Democrat Al Gore (search) in 2000. Pennsylvania has 21 electoral votes.
With the independent candidate Nader involved, Bush has 44 percent, Kerry has 40 percent and Nader has 5 percent in the poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
Bush and Kerry are running close in the Philadelphia suburbs, where Democrat Ed Rendell ran strong in his successful race for governor.
The poll of 1,022 registered voters was taken March 9-15 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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