Poll Shows Comfortable Lead For Kerry In Maryland

WASHINGTON -- A new Mason-Dixon poll shows that Sen. John Kerry has a comfortable lead over President George W. Bush in Maryland.

According to the poll of 625 voters interviewed at random over the past three days, Kerry is leading Bush 52 percent to 41 percent. At the Maryland headquarters for Kerry's campaign, officials are so confident about winning Maryland that they sent volunteers to help in the battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich said he believes Bush will outperform expectations in Maryland. On the issue of who would best handle homeland security and terror, Bush leads Kerry by 10 percentage points. But on the issue of the war in Iraq, Kerry leads Bush 47 percent to 41 percent.

According to the Mason-Dixon poll, 25 percent of respondents said the most influential issue in the election is the situation in Iraq, while 24 percent said it was homeland security and the war in Iraq, and 15 percent said it was the economy and creating jobs.

Bush received mixed reviews on his performance as president. Forty-nine percent of respondents rated him as "excellent" or "good," while 31 percent called his performance "poor."