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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 20, 1994                   TAG: 9404200118
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

POLL SHOWS 3 DEMOCRATS LEADING NORTH

A new poll shows Democrats Charles Robb, Virgil Goode and Sylvia Clute all beating Republican Oliver North for the U.S. Senate this fall.

The poll also shows that many of those polled remain undecided.

If the election were now, Robb, the incumbent, and Goode each would beat North by 16 percentage points, according to the poll. Clute would beat North, the retired Marine officer who was the central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal during the Reagan administration, by 7 percentage points.

The Charlottesville firm Cooper & Secrest polled 610 Virginia voters by telephone Friday through Sunday. The survey has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Both Robb and North have such high unfavorable ratings among voters that nearly any ``non-pariah'' nominee of a major party could beat either of them, Secrest said.

``Against any non-pariah opponent, Chuck Robb is in deep trouble,'' Secrest said. ``Against a fellow pariah, he has a decent shot.''

by CNB