Dukakis Ahead in 2 State Polls; Bush Leading in Pennsylvania

Polls in Iowa and Massachusetts showed today that Democratic presidential candidate Michael S. Dukakis has regained his political footing against Vice President George Bush, while a survey in Pennsylvania, rich in Electoral College votes, gave the Republican nominee a slim edge.

The latest Iowa poll shows that the Massachusetts governor has rebuilt a strong lead over Bush in Iowa, raising the possibility that a Democrat may win the state for the first time since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

The presidential race in Iowa, which has eight votes in the Electoral College, had been in a dead heat. But the Des Moines Register survey conducted eight days after the first presidential debate had 49% of 1,022 Iowans polled supporting the Democrat, 38% favoring Bush and 13% undecided.

A statewide poll of Massachusetts by the Boston Herald and WBZ-TV had Bush tied last month with Dukakis but now shows that the Democrat has opened up a four-point lead in his home state, 43% to 39%.

The Pennsylvania poll shows Bush with a 45%-43% lead over Dukakis in the race for the state’s 25 votes in the Electoral College.

Nationally, a CBS-New York Times survey released Tuesday gave Bush an edge of two percentage points, while a nationwide tracking poll released today by the Herald and WBZ-TV in Boston had Bush leading Dukakis, 48% to 40%, with Election Day less than five weeks away.