Less than two weeks before the Nov. 2, election, Sen. John F. Kerry and President Bush were running nearly shoulder to shoulder in the latest Pennsylvania Poll.

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The new survey suggested that a close contest for the state's 21 electoral votes had barely shifted since a similar poll conducted just before the first of the three presidential debates. Kerry led Bush by two percentage points, 46 percent to 44 percent, in the survey of 800 likely voters interviewed from Oct. 19 through Oct. 21. The difference between the two was less than the survey's margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. On the eve of the debates, Kerry held a similar razor-thin lead, with a 45 percent to 44 percent edge over the incumbent.

The poll reflected distinctly polarized views of each candidate. Forty-six percent said that held a favorable view of Bush, but nearly as many, 44 percent, said they held an unfavorable view of the president. Forty-four percent said they had a favorable view of Kerry while 38 percent held an unfavorable view.

Kerry's slim lead rested on strong showings in Philadelphia, and in its once reliably Republican suburbs. Kerry also led in Allegheny County, but the rest of Southwestern Pennsylvania was trending toward Bush, though not as strongly as the center of the state, where the president led by a margin of nearly two-to-one.

Both candidates will return to Pennsylvania this week for appearances calculated to shore up their political bases. Kerry is to campaign in Philadelphia tomorrow at a Center City rally with former President Bill Clinton. Bush, who made his 41st visit to Pennsylvania last week, is scheduled to return Wednesday for a rally in Lancaster County.

"It's still very close,'' said Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, who conducted the poll for the Post-Gazette. "It's a ground war. The Democrats have gone after these newly registered voters ... I do have a pretty strong sense that the Republican vote is coming out.''

Some other recent polls of the state have shown slightly larger leads for the Democrat. A poll released Friday by Quinnipiac University, for example, showed Kerry with a 51 percent to 46 percent lead over the president.

A majority of those surveyed said they felt Bush would do a better job in dealing with terrorism while Kerry was the choice of most voters for handling the economy. Neither candidate enjoyed a clear advantage on handling the war in Iraq, but of the two millionaires, Kerry, by a margin of 52 percent to 39 percent, was the one more often seen as "understanding then problems of people like you.''

On the terrorism question, Bush had an advantage of 51 percent to 44 percent. Kerry's lead on handling the economy was 53 percent to 41 percent. On Iraq, 47 percent chose Bush and 46 percent Kerry. Bush also held a slight edge in providing leadership -- 50 percent to 45 percent.

The economy, Iraq and terror were closely bunched at the top of the list of most important issues, with 21 percent, 19 percent and 18 percent, respectively citing each as the most important issue in determining their vote.

Those surveyed had contrasting views of the candidates' spouses as well. First Lady Laura Bush enjoyed an overwhelmingly positive image, while Teresa Heinz Kerry sparked the same kinds of polarized responses as the candidates themselves. Sixty-three percent said they had a favorable view of Laura Bush and only 11 percent said they had an unfavorable view. For Heinz Kerry, however, 41 percent said they held a favorable view and 37 percent an unfavorable opinion.

The interviews were conducted in a week in which Heinz Kerry was criticized by some Republicans -- although not by Bush herself -- for having observed mistakenly in an interview that the first lady, a former teacher and librarian, had not held a job.

Younger voters, those between 18 and 34, were closely divided, giving a slight edge to Kerry. Those between 35 and 49 favored Bush, 49 percent to 41 percent, while older voters favored the Democrat -- 50 percent to 42 percent for those between 50 and 64, and 47 percent to 41 percent for those 65 and older.

Bush had a small lead among white voters -- 48 percent to 42 percent, but Kerry enjoyed the traditionally large Democratic advantage among African-Americans, 84 percent to 6 percent.

While a recognized tendency in polling is for the undecided vote to break disproportionately away from incumbents, Coker said that pattern is less pronounced in presidential contests.

"Everyone has known who both these candidates were since June or July,'' he said.

Kerry was far ahead in the state's two largest urban areas. He led 56 percent to 36 percent in Allegheny County, and 62 percent to 22 percent in Philadelphia. Kerry's lead depended on a strong showing in the nominally Republican counties on its border. In those suburbs, the Democrat led by 50 percent to 37 percent for Bush.

That was a mirror image of the phenomenon in the Southwest, outside of Allegheny County, where voters in counties with Democratic registration advantages favored Bush, 47 percent to 40 percent. In the GOP heartland of central Pennsylvania, Bush led with 60 percent to 32 percent for Kerry.

Both candidates had solid support from their partisan bases. Seventy-nine percent of the Republicans said they planned to vote for Bush and 77 percent of the Democrats said they would support Kerry.

An overwhelming majority of the voters, 87 percent, watched at least some of the three debates. While few voters said the encounters had changed their minds about the race, the responses suggested that they served to shore up Kerry's support more than Bush's. Sixty percent of the Kerry voters who had watched the debates said they had helped to reinforce their presidential choice while 27 percent said they had no effect. Only 26 percent of the Bush voters said the debates had made them more sure of their choice, with a majority, 52 percent, saying that debates made no difference.

The results suggested that substantial numbers of both Republicans and Democrats were prepared to split their tickets between the presidential and Senate races, but in different patterns. Nearly one in five Kerry voters, 18 percent, said they planned to vote for Republican Sen. Arlen Specter. Only 1 percent of the Bush voters said they would vote for Specter's opponent, Rep. Joe Hoeffel, but 13 percent of the Bush partisans said they would stray from their ticket to vote for James Clymer, the nominee of the Constitution Party.

Specter's overall lead in the survey was 50 percent to 32 percent for Hoeffel; 7 percent for Clymer and 11 percent undecided.

The survey also found that both Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., two officeholders up for re-election in 2006, have relatively positive images with the voters. Fifty-two percent said they had a favorable view of Rendell and 26 percent said they held an unfavorable view. For Santorum, it was 48 percent favorable and 30 percent unfavorable.

The Pennsylvania Poll was conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research of Washington, D.C., from Oct. 19 through Oct. 21. It is based on telephone interviews with 800 registered voters who said they were likely to vote in the Nov. 2 election.