Nearly one in four voters want Ralph Nader to run for president in 2004, according to a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll released Tuesday. The poll found that 23% of those surveyed said Nader should run in 2004; 66% said he shouldn't.

Poll numbers may not translate into votes, but a surprised Nader said the numbers show that "people are looking for alternatives to the Democratic and Republican duopoly."

Nader got 3% of the vote as the Green Party candidate in 2000. He also was its candidate in 1996. He said he will decide in December whether to run in 2004. He asked the California secretary of state to place his name on the Green Party's presidential primary ballot for March. A Draft Nader organization is setting up in all 50 states. Party officials said the likely choice for vice president is Erin Brockovich, a consumer activist and investigator for a California law firm. She had no comment.

In the poll, 52% rejected the idea that Nader's 2000 run cost Democrat Al Gore the presidency; 41% said it did. Some blamed Nader for drawing votes in Florida and New Hampshire that cost Gore those states. In the poll, 28% said they have voted for an independent or third party candidate for president; 71% said they haven't. The poll of 1,003 people Sept. 19-21 has a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points.

© Copyright 2003 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.

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