As President, Perot Says, He’d Remain an Independent : Politics: Texan believes he would have no trouble getting a mandate from the public. A new poll shows he is gaining against Bush and Clinton.

WASHINGTON — Undeclared White House contender Ross Perot said Sunday that, as President, he would remain an independent rather than join the Republicans or Democrats or form a third political party.

And in spite of vast complexities forecast for an independent chief executive in an entrenched two-party system, he predicted that he could get a mandate from the public and create an Administration “that looks like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers used to look when they danced together.”

Speaking with the cocksure confidence that has characterized his flirtation with a White House bid, the billionaire Texas businessman, on the CBS-TV program “Face the Nation,” brushed aside his lack of experience.

“Everybody likes to point out that I haven’t spent any time in Washington,” he said, “but the fascinating thing to me is that I may be the only guy that ever read the Constitution, and I understand that Congress and the White House are equal and that the White House can’t throw rocks at Congress and expect to get much done, because they need one another.

“So you would see me buried with the leaders of Congress, buried with Cabinet members who would be the best of the Democrat and Republican parties and others who may be independent,” he continued. “We would be working night and day to fix these problems . . . we’ll have the hood up and we’ll be working on the engine, and we’ll get the car back on the road and not just talk about it.”

Perot reiterated his criticism of Washington politics in the wake of new evidence that his blunt message is striking a responsive chord. The latest CBS/New York Times poll, published Sunday, showed Perot gaining 7 percentage points in the last month among those who say they would vote for him if the presidential election were held now. Both President Bush and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, had lost ground.

The new figures showed Bush favored by 38%, Clinton by 28% and Perot by 23%. The previous survey showed Bush with 44%, Clinton with 31% and Perot with 16%. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

“Right now all the signs are positive,” Perot said, “but it’s early, and as far as the polls, I consider this is April. It doesn’t mean much.”

Although political observers overwhelmingly expect the computer magnate to go forward with his independent bid, Perot reiterated his assertion that it will be June before he knows whether there is sufficient popular demand for him to declare himself a candidate.

Principal strategists in both the Democratic and Republican parties agreed with Perot on one score: that it is still too early to gauge his support definitively.

But, appearing on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press,” Bush campaign manager Robert M. Teeter and Democratic National Committee Chairman Ronald H. Brown both predicted that the November election will be a showdown between the incumbent President and the Democratic nominee.

“He’s obviously a very interesting and unique and fascinating public figure,” Teeter said of Perot, “but I don’t think the public has--or any of us have--much view of what he will be like if he decides to run as a public candidate for President. . . . I don’t think he seriously is a threat to the President’s reelection, but we certainly take everybody who is running, or might run, seriously.”

Seventy percent of American voters, Brown noted, still have no opinion of Perot, but some of them profess to be supporting him.

“It’s not unusual,” he said, “for that to happen this early in a contest--for a third-party candidate to look pretty good before he’s been thoroughly examined by the American public and the press.”