A Herald poll conducted by Zogby International showed Sen. John Kerry leading among voters in Miami-Dade, but he has made little gain in the Cuban community.

BY OSCAR CORRAL

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry holds a comfortable lead among Miami-Dade County voters, much as former Vice President Al Gore did in 2000, a Herald poll shows.

The biggest exception is the Cuban-American vote, which still overwhelmingly favors President Bush.

The poll, conducted for The Herald by Zogby International, shows Kerry favored by 54 percent to Bush's 41 percent. But among Cuban Americans, a voting bloc targeted by the Democrats, nearly 79 percent say they back Bush.

''If you talk strictly numbers, Kerry is in very good shape in Miami-Dade,'' pollster John Zogby said in an interview. ``But if you're talking about intensity, Miami is a testimonial in many ways to where we are as a country, high intensity polarization.''

For the poll, 750 likely voters were called from Oct. 22 through Oct. 25. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points for the full poll, and higher for subgroups. Zogby, whose company is based in Utica, NY, said about 10 percent of the poll workers were fluent in Spanish.

Miami-Dade, the most populated county in this important swing state, has been the focus of a political battle, with both Kerry and Bush visiting repeatedly during the past few months. Even a slight alteration in voting patterns could affect the outcome of the election in Florida, which decided the 2000 presidential race by 537 votes.

In Miami-Dade County in 2000, 53 percent of voters cast ballots for Gore and 46 percent for Bush. Zogby's poll shows those numbers remain almost the same.

Among Cuban Americans in Miami-Dade, nearly 79 percent say they favor Bush. That also falls close to the 2000 total, when just over 80 percent of Cuban Americans voted for Bush.

Voters who participated in the Zogby poll explained their leanings.

''Bush all the way,'' said Consuelo Villaverde, 74, a Cuban-American woman who participated in the poll. ``He says what he means and means what he says. The other guy flaps in the wind like a sail.''

Mike Melnick, a Jewish voter from North Miami Beach, said he was planning to vote for Kerry because Bush didn't have a grasp of the complex issues that threaten the middle class.

''I don't think we can be in worse shape,'' Melnick said. ``Kerry understands the issues, and he's addressing the issues important to the middle class.''

The poll shows Jewish voters in Miami-Dade County supporting Kerry 82 percent to 15 percent, a larger margin than Cuban Americans supporting Bush. Zogby said Bush had failed to make inroads with the Jewish vote.

Bush campaign spokeswoman Mercy Viana-Schlapp said that Bush's message and his candidacy have strong support in Miami-Dade. ''The president's message resonates among the people in Miami-Dade,'' she said.

Kerry campaign spokesman Matthew Miller said the sample of Cuban voters, which numbered about 200 and had a higher margin of error than the general poll, was too small to be reliable. He said more Cubans will vote for Kerry than the poll suggests.

''We have run a more aggressive campaign targeting Cuban-American voters than any Democrat in history,'' he said. ``We think this race is very close and it will be close until election day that's why we're fighting hard for every vote.''

Herald database editor Tim Henderson contributed to this report.