WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (AFP - NT) - Democratic President Bill Clinton would trounce Republican hopeful Bob Dole if the 1996 presidential election were held now, a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Wednesday found. Clinton would draw 53 percent of the vote against 37 percent for Dole, the Senate majority leader, according to the survey taken January 6-7, 10 month's ahead of the November vote. For four months Clinton has been the polling preference of 52-53 percent of voters, while Dole's rating ranged from 46 to 42 percent, before sliding to 37 percent. The survey blamed the shift mainly on Republican lawmakers' hard line in handling the budget impasse with the White House, a deadlock that has closed part of the federal government twice since November and sidelined thousands of workers. Fifty-three percent of those surveyed, up sharply from 43 percent, said they approved of the way Clinton was doing his job, while Congress drew a hefty 65 percent negative rating -- up from 31 percent. pl/mla/cw101506 AFP /AA1234/101408 GMT JAN 96

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