June 12 (Bloomberg) -- North Carolina Democratic Senator John Edwards is favored by voters to be the running mate of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, the Associated Press reported, citing a poll conducted for the service by Ipsos-Public Affairs.

Edwards was the top choice as vice presidential candidate for 36 percent of 778 registered voters polled June 7 to 9, and he was the favorite of 43 percent of Democrats. The poll had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points, AP said.

A pairing with Edwards tied with the ticket of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney in the poll, the same result as when respondents rate Kerry against Bush without running mates, the news service said.

The results showed 19 percent of registered voters prefer Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, the former Democratic leader in Congress, and 18 percent want Kerry to select retired Army General Wesley Clark. All three men ran against Kerry in the Democratic presidential primary.

(AP 6-12 Online)

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 12, 2004 17:05 EDT