WASHINGTON, Sept 17: President George Bush has surged to a 13-point lead over Democratic challenger John Kerry among likely voters, according to a new USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll released on Friday.

The newspaper said Bush's 55 percent to 42 percent for the Massachusetts senator in the poll conducted from Sept 13 to 15 was the first statistically significant edge either candidate has held this year.

Among registered voters, Bush held an eight-point lead over Kerry, 52 percent to 44 percent, according to the poll based on interviews with 1,022 people with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

"It doesn't look like the new consultants and strategies of attacks are the right ones" for Kerry, Bush campaign adviser Matthew Dowd told USA Today. Kerry adviser Mike McCurry told the newspaper there had been some "bouncing around in the numbers" but the campaign sensed it was moving back to a much closer race since Bush received a boost following the Republican convention that ended on Sept 2.

Two national polls on Thursday found equal levels of support for the White House contenders as Kerry rebounded, putting the race essentially even again, as it was for months.

The Pew Research Center sampled voters in two waves. The first poll of likely voters, taken Sept. 8-10, found Bush ahead by 16 percentage points. The second poll on Sept. 11-14, which had a 3.5 percentage point margin of error, found Bush with a statistically insignificant one-point lead. Among registered voters, it was deadlocked. -Reuters