The president holds a commanding lead over Democratic rival John Kerry across South Carolina, a Post and Courier poll of state voters shows.

If the election were held today, the Bush-Dick Cheney ticket would collect 55 percent of the vote to 37 percent for Kerry and running mate John Edwards.

Pollster Brad Coker of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research said the results aren't surprising, given South Carolina's lean to the right for the last two decades and with Republicans continuously ahead in polls.

"It's a Bush state," Coker said, jokingly adding "I don't know if Jeb (Bush) will carry it when he runs" in a reference to the president's brother, now the governor of Florida.

The last Democrat to win South Carolina in a presidential race was former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter in 1976.

The survey was conducted before Thursday night's televised Bush-Kerry debate on national security.

Before the debate, the poll showed a minimal six percent of South Carolinians are undecided in the presidential race, while two percent said they planned to vote for the five third party candidates on the ballot.

The results are based on telephone interviews with 625 registered voters from across the state surveyed Monday through Wednesday.

All the respondents stated they were likely to vote in the November general election. Quotas were assigned to reflect the voter turnout by county. Blacks made up 26 percent of respondents. The overall margin of error is plus or minus 4 points, meaning there is a 95 percent probability the results reflect the true picture.

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