As Albert Gore seeks to become the second sitting vice president to win a presidential election since Martin Van Buren's 1836 victory over William Henry Harrison, one of his first challenges is to unify his party's base.
A revealing new national survey by Peter Hart and Robert Teeter for NBC News and the Wall Street Journal reveals soft spots for Gore among some of the party's most important constituencies that he needs to address over the next two-and-a-half years. The June 18-21 poll reveals that while the 2000 GOP frontrunner, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, is running 5 points ahead of 1996 nominee Bob Dole's national general election exit poll performance, Gore runs 9 points behind President Clinton's performance, currently losing a matchup with Bush 46-40 percent. It should be noted that the poll specified "Texas Governor George Bush," to distinguish him from his father.
In the 25 subgroups examined, Bush ran ahead of Dole in 21 of these groups -- tying the Kansan in the remaining four -- while Gore ran behind Clinton in all 25. While it
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