COLUMBUS - Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore are running nearly even among likely Ohio voters, according to a new poll released today by Ohio State University.

Vice President Gore held a slight lead of 45 percent to 43 percent over Texas Gov. Bush in the poll of 1,037 registered voters who said they were likely to vote - within the margin of error. About 1 percent favored Ralph Nader, while 7 percent were undecided. However, the poll also indicated Bush's support may be growing in the state.

The Ohio Politics 2000 poll, conducted by Ohio State's Center for Survey Research, is based on telephone interviews conducted between October 2 and October 23. Because it was taken over a three-week period, it is not designed to track short-term changes in the electorate, said Gerald M. Kosicki, interim director of the Center for Survey Research and associate professor of journalism and communication.

But the survey was designed to yield a truly random sample, with some households being called more than10 times to reach a respondent to be interviewed. Kosicki said the results concerning likely voters have a sampling error of no more than 3 percent.

The survey results suggest that undecided Ohio voters may not play as large a role in this election as many observers have speculated, said Lewis Horner, research associate at the center.

Undecided voters in this survey were less likely to say they would vote than were Bush and Gore supporters. Undecided voters also showed less interest in the campaign, were less likely to read a newspaper, and were less likely to subscribe to cable or satellite television than were supporters of Bush and Gore.

"Given these results, it is very possible that many undecided voters will not go to the polls at all," Horner said.

If that's true, Kosicki said, "efforts by the Bush and Gore campaigns to get out their voters may have a strong impact in Ohio."

Bush may have an edge in getting his supporters to vote, the survey suggests. The poll showed that 33 percent of Bush supporters were "very much interested" in the campaign, while only 25 percent of Gore supporters were "very interested."

Other results of the poll:

·Bush's support in Ohio seemed to grow during the course of the survey. Among voters interviewed before October 9, 40 percent supported Bush. Of those interviewed on or after October 9, 47 percent supported Bush. Gore's support dropped from 47 percent to 42 percent between the two time periods.

· There is a substantial gender gap in presidential candidate support among Ohioans. Among likely voters, 50 percent of women support Gore and 39 percent support Bush. Among men, 39 percent support Gore and 49 percent support Bush.

· With the exception of Cleveland, there was not much regional difference in the support of the candidates, said Steve Mockabee, a Ph.D. student in political science who assisted with the poll. In the Cleveland metropolitan area, 51 percent supported Gore and 39 percent supported Bush; in Columbus 44 percent supported Gore and 43 percent supported Bush; in Cincinnati 40 percent supported Gore and 44 percent supported Bush; in the remainder of the state 44 percent supported Gore and 45 percent supported Bush.

· Republican Mike Dewine holds a commanding lead over Democrat Ted Celeste in the race for the U.S. Senate seat in Ohio. Among likely voters, 50 percent supported Dewine and 36 percent supported Celeste.

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