SAN JUAN Puerto Rico AP Nearly 40 percent of Puerto Ricans say they want statehood but almost as many want to remain a commonwealth of the United States according to a newspaper poll. According to the poll published Tuesday in The San Juan Star 39 percent of those surveyed said they would vote for statehood in a Dec. 13 referendum called by pro-statehood Gov. Pedro Rossello. Rossello hopes the vote will encourage the U.S. Congress to clear up the Caribbean island's ambiguous relationship with Washington as a U.S. commonwealth. Congress has suggested that anything less than a majority vote for statehood would not be enough to change Puerto Rico's status. In the poll 16 percent of voters said they were undecided. Two other options on the ballot a U.S. commonwealth definition rejected by the commonwealth party and a ``free association'' of an independent Puerto Rico with treaty ties to Washington received 3 percent and 7 percent respectively. However 34 percent said they will vote for ``none of the above'' a protest position adopted by Puerto Rico's pro-commonwealth party while just 3 percent said they will vote for total independence the Star said. Puerto Rico's opposition Popular Democratic Party has called on its supporters to vote for ``none of the above'' claiming that Rossello's pro-statehood administration imposed its own ballot definition of commonwealth one that calls for fewer local powers for the Puerto Rican government and says that Congress has the right to revoke islanders' U.S. citizenship. The door-to-door poll of 1049 registered voters was conducted Nov. 7-17 by Precision Research Inc. a private polling firm for The Star. Its margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens who cannot vote for president and have no vote in Congress. They do not pay federal taxes but receive limited federal benefits and they can be drafted into the military. The Star said its poll suggests that Puerto Ricans may not send a clear enough message to Congress. In March the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved a measure obliging Congress to act on a series of binding Puerto Rican status votes. The measure died in the U.S. Senate. In a non-binding 1993 vote commonwealth edged out statehood by 48.6 percent to 46.3 percent. Just over 4 percent voted for independence. APW19981201.1027.txt.body.html APW19981201.0044.txt.body.html