
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 8, 1993                   TAG: 9305080294
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

POLL: TERRY WOULD WIN GOVERNOR'S RACE

Mary Sue Terry would easily win the governor's race if the general election were held today, a new poll shows.

A telephone survey of 818 Virginia voters by Mason-Dixon Political-Media Research Inc. of Columbia, Md., shows that Terry would defeat Republican George Allen by 56 percent to 27 percent. Seventeen percent were undecided.

Terry, who resigned as attorney general in January to campaign for governor, will receive the Democratic Party's nomination at the state convention Saturday.

Allen, a former state lawmaker and congressman, is the front-runner in a three-candidate race that will be settled at the GOP state convention June 5.

Terry holds even larger leads over the other two Republican candidates, according to the poll. She leads Earle Williams, a retired defense contractor from McLean, by 63 percent to 17 percent. Terry holds a 58 percent to 20 percent lead over Del. Clinton Miller of Woodstock.

Terry appears to have a big advantage in name recognition. Forty-nine percent of the respondents said they had a favorable opinion of Terry. Among the Republicans, the positive name recognition figures were 18 percent for Allen, 8 percent for Miller and 6 percent for Williams.

In the lieutenant governor's race, the poll showed Democratic incumbent Donald Beyer with a convincing lead over both GOP contenders. Beyer leads Bobbie Kilberg of McLean, a former Bush administration aide, 38 percent to 19 percent and leads Loudoun County lawyer and home-schooling advocate Mike Farris by 38 percent to 16 percent.

The attorney general's race is the most wide-open, with more than half of the respondents undecided. Democrat William Dolan of Arlington has a 23 percent to 20 percent lead over Henrico County Commonwealth's Attorney James Gilmore, a Republican. Dolan and Republican Del. Steve Agee of Salem each had the support of 22 percent of the respondents.

The poll, conducted for Virginia news organizations April 29 through May 1, has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

Keywords:
POLITICS

Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

by CNB