45% say Kerry should quit seat, poll indicates

The Democratic National Convention hasn't started yet, but the partisan gamesmanship is already underway in Boston. The Republican National Committee yesterday released a poll it commissioned that says nearly half of Massachusetts voters believe John F. Kerry should resign from the Senate as he runs for president.

In a survey of 500 Bay State voters conducted last Sunday and Monday, 59 percent said they ''are concerned" that Kerry ''missed 70 percent of the votes in the Senate over the last two years" and 45 percent say he should resign his Senate seat, according to an RNC spokeswoman, Christine Iverson.

The survey by Public Opinion Strategies also said: By a ratio of 51 percent to 31 percent, Massachusetts voters believe President Bush is ''more decisive" than Kerry; 53 percent say he is ''not a serious legislator" and more concerned about raising his national profile; and by a better-than-3-to-1 ratio think he would raise taxes if elected president.

By a margin of 70 percent to 15 percent, Kerry's constituents believe his running mate, John Edwards, ''is more charismatic" than Kerry, Iverson said the poll found.

A Kerry spokesman, Michael Meehan, laughed as he was read the poll results.

''The Republicans' frustration is understandable," he said. ''They haven't been able to beat him for more than 20 years, and now they hope he'll quit over a cooked poll. It's laughable."

--Brian Mooney