Nearly one half of all Harvard students who describe themselves as Democrats support former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas in his bid for the party's presidential nomination, according to a Crimson poll conducted during the past four days.

Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton finished a distant second in the poll, with the support of approximately one quarter of the Democrats surveyed. Former California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. trailed in the poll.

President Bush was favored by the vast majority of campus Republicans polled. More than 90 percent of Republican students supported Bush, with only 2.8 percent of them backing his conservative challenger Patrick J. Buchanan.

The Crimson interviewed 175 undergraduate and graduate students randomly selected from the University's 493 centrex telephone system. The poll has a margin of error of 5 percent for Democrats and 7 percent for Republicans.

Tsongas bested Clinton by nearly 24 percentage points among students supporting a Democratic presidential contender. Fifty percent of those students said they would vote for Tsongas; only 26.4 percent endorsed Clinton.

Brown, a favorite on other college campuses, garnered only 8.5 percent of the Democratic vote here.

Although 91.7 percent of the Republican students surveyed backed Bush, that figure slipped to 88.2 per- cent when the pool was expanded to includeIndependents voting for Republican candidates.

Buchanan's standing among campus conservativesrose to 7.5 percent with Independents voting forRepublican candidates included in the sample.

Approximately 30 percent of all studentssurveyed--Independents as well as Democrats andRepublicans--expressed support for Tsongas. Bushwas runner-up on campus with 25.7 percent of theoverall vote.

Clinton, who is expected to sweep the sevenprimaries in the South today, finished third amongthe Harvard students interviewed, with only 16percent of them saying they would vote for him.

Another 14.3 percent of the overall sample saidthey were undecided in the days before SuperTuesday.

Tsongas--the favorite in today's stateDemocratic primary--found a strong base of supportamong the graduating seniors surveyed. More than45 percent of them championed the formerMassachusetts senator, compared with the 30percent support he received overall.

Most of the seniors, many of whom are worriedabout the job market they face after graduation,seemed unwilling to let Bush manage the economymuch longer. Less tan 15 percent of them supportedthe president.

Bush did noticeably better among the first-yearstudents interviewed; more than 30 percent of thembacked the president.

An unexpected gender gap hurt Clinton andhelped Tsongas in the Crimson and helped Tsongasin the Crimson poll. Only 8.3 percent of all womensurveyed said they would vote for Clinton. Incontrast, 34.7 percent of females endorsedTsongas.

Approximately 29 percent of all white studentspolled supported President Bush; 16.7 percent ofstudents identifying themselves as ethnicminorities backed Bush.

More than a quarter of all minority studentssaid they had not yet decided who to support.

Approximately 43 percent of students polledsaid they were Independents, 20.6 percentconsidered them-selves Republicans and 36.6percent said they were Democrats.

Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who dropped out of therace during the final day of polling, won 5.7percent of Democratic voters on campus and 3.4percent of all students surveyed.

Due to a logistical error, former Klu Klux Klanleader David Duke was omitted from the poll.Students who volunteered his name were classifiedin the "other" category.

The poll was compiled by Brian D. Ellison,Joe M. Mathews, Sara G. Mathews, RichelleNessralla, Dante E.A. Ramos, Rajath Shourie,Jonathan K. Wu and Celeste M.K. Yuen.