The Nation - News from Feb. 8, 1987

Vice President George Bush remains the popular favorite for the 1988 Republican presidential nomination and Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas is a distant second, according to the Gallup Poll. Although a wide gap still separated the two front-runners, the mid-January survey showed Dole’s prospects improving as Bush’s were slipping. Bush was favored by 49% of Republicans’ and Republican-leaning Independents polled; Dole got 27%--a significant narrowing of the 57% to 20% spread found last October. Former Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr. of Tennessee polled 14%; Rep. Jack Kemp of New York 13%.