Support strong to recall Davis

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- The latest polls show that several days of reporting on accusations of sexual harassment against Arnold Schwarzenegger have dented only slightly support for recalling Gov. Gray Davis in the vote tomorrow.

The Austrian-born actor's campaign tour of California came to a roaring conclusion at the state Capitol yesterday in front of 10,000 people buoyed by the poll figures and a live performance by 1980s rock star Dee Snider of Twisted Sister.

A poll released by the San Jose Mercury News yesterday showed that 54 percent of likely voters support the recall, and 41 percent are opposed. Mr. Schwarzenegger led the 135 replacement candidates with 36 percent, compared with 29 percent for Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante.

On Thursday, the second day of the poll's four-day period, the Los Angeles Times reported accusations against Mr. Schwarzenegger of sexual harassment by six women since the 1970s.

Schwarzenegger spokesman Rob Stutzman said internal campaign polling shows support for the recall at 57 percent, and a comfortable victory for Mr. Schwarzenegger.

The only change was the dip in the number of people who said they would "definitely" recall Mr. Davis -- from 52 percent before the accusations surfaced to 44 percent on Saturday. In addition, 12 percent said they were undecided, a tripling of the figure before the weekend media coverage.

The poll of 1,000 registered voters, conducted by Elway/McGuire Research, had a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.

An earlier poll conducted three days before the Los Angeles Times story appeared found that the effort to recall Mr. Davis was favored by 57 percent and opposed by 39 percent -- an 18-point gap only five points greater than the one in the Mercury News poll.

In his Sacramento speech, Mr. Schwarzenegger said he felt "an unbelievable momentum" toward recalling Mr. Davis, but did not allude to the sexual harassment accusations or reports in the New York Times on accusations that as a youth Mr. Schwarzenegger had sympathized with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.