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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 2, 1995                   TAG: 9508020039
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

WARNER'S OWN PARTY COULD BE HIS WORST ENEMY

Republican voters are deeply divided over whether to renominate U.S. Sen. John Warner next year, even though he is a strong bet to win a fourth term, according to a new poll.

Warner holds commanding 2-to-1 leads over two Democrats who are considering running for his Senate seat, according to a survey of 826 registered Virginia voters conducted last week for The Roanoke Times and WDBJ (Channel 7) by Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research Inc. of Columbia, Md.

But the enthusiasm was not shared by the 235 poll participants who identified themselves as Republican. Among them, Warner is running in a virtual dead heat for the GOP nomination against Jim Miller, a former federal budget chief.

Warner outraged many GOP loyalists last year by actively campaigning against Oliver North, the Republican nominee for Virginia's other U.S. Senate seat. In 1993, he aroused the ire of his party by refusing to endorse Mike Farris, the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor.

Questioning Warner's loyalty, many Republican activists have vowed to work for the three-term senator's defeat in next year's nomination battle. Hoping to avoid the party's wrath, Warner is insisting that Republicans hold a primary election next spring instead of making its nomination at a state convention.

The poll shows Warner would top Miller by just 3 percentage points, 41 percent to 38 percent, with the rest undecided, if a primary were held now. The difference is insignificant considering the poll's 7 percentage-point margin of error among likely GOP primary voters.

Mason-Dixon vice president Del Ali cautioned that the poll assumed Republicans will hold a primary and that Miller will be a candidate, but said, ``The bottom line is that John Warner has a horse race on his hands.''

If state GOP Chairman Patrick McSweeney were to enter the race and prompt a three-way Republican primary, Warner's percentage would remain the same. McSweeney would score 6 percent, taking half from Miller and half from otherwise undecided voters.

Other results showed Warner would beat possible Democratic opponents Mark Warner - a multimillionaire and former state Democratic Party chairman - 47-25, and Leslie Byrne - a former state legislator and congresswoman from Northern Virginia - 49-21.

Warner still enjoys a generally high approval rating, with 55 percent of those polled rating his performance good or excellent. For U.S. Sen. Charles Robb, D-Va., 42 percent rated his performance good or excellent.

The poll, conducted from a randomly generated list of telephone numbers, had an overall margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB