By Alan Elsner, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Al Gore's performance on the campaign trail in the past two months is making some Democrats anxious and edgy about his prospects in the November presidential election.

Since effectively nailing down the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in early March, Gore has taken a relatively low profile. He has traveled the country extensively making speeches and raising funds but his campaign has often seemed unfocused.

Meanwhile, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, Gore's Republican opponent in the Nov. 7 election, has moved smartly to repair the damage he suffered in his primary campaign against Arizona Sen. John McCain. Bush has jumped back to the political center with a series of well-received policy initiatives on education, Social Security and foreign and security issues.

The result has been reflected in public opinion polls. In early March, Gore was even with or slightly ahead of Bush. Now, the Texan leads by between five and eight percentage points in most recent surveys.

``There have been a lot of questions about Gore's performance and there are some concerns,'' said James Zogby, a member of the Democratic National Committee and chair of its ethnic council. Gore's highest profile moment in the past 10 weeks came when he intervened in the struggle over the future of Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez, saying jurisdiction over the 6-year-old's fate ought to be taken away from federal immigration authorities and given to a Florida family court.

Upsets Supporters

That statement won Gore little credit in the Florida Cuban American community but did upset many of his supporters elsewhere who saw it as shameless pandering.

Zogby also was upset that so many of Gore's speeches seemed dominated by attacks on Bush, rather than putting forward his own positive message.

``Bush almost seems to be running as the incumbent and Gore as the challenger, attacking all the time. You would think it would be the other way around with such a strong record and clear legacy for Gore to trumpet,'' he said.

Moderates aligned with the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, from which President Clinton emerged as a ``New Democrat,'' seem particular upset at the way the campaign is unfolding because they fear Gore is abandoning them and siding with the traditional liberal wing of the party.

``Gore is dropping the ball on education and Social Security and allowing Bush to dictate the terms of the debate,'' said one centrist Democrat who did not want to be named.

Gore spokesman Chris Lehane insisted everything was on course in the vice president's campaign.

``If you go through the issues voters care about, Al Gore is where the American people are and George W. Bush is not on nine out of 10 of them,'' he said.

Little Attention Right Now

Lehane said voters were not paying much attention to the campaign right now and were not focusing on issues. Historically, he said, vice presidents often found it difficult to establish themselves as independent personalities so Gore's current poll standings were not unexpected.

``Once voters start looking at the issues, they are going to support the candidate whose views they share,'' he said.

But Gore himself, in a speech on Monday to the United Food and Commercial Workers labor union, said just being right on the issues would not necessarily win the race unless Democrats matched Republicans in fervor, enthusiasm and commitment.

``You should not believe that just because the American people agree with us on 90 percent of the issues in this campaign, that that will determine the outcome,'' Gore said. ''There is a second factor which is commitment, determination and intensity.''

Polls now seem to partly reflect that view that Gore is not well liked by a sizable proportion of the electorate, raising the question of how much commitment and intensity he will be able to inspire in the fall.

In fact, most of the models constructed by political scientists predict that Gore ought indeed to win this election, largely on the back of the strong economy.

One model unveiled last week by University of Iowa political scientist Michael Lewis-Beck, predicted that Gore would win around 56 percent of the vote -- an easy victory.

Some Democrats, like political consultant Jennifer Laszlo, are urging patience on their colleagues.

``There's always muttering in the ranks when you're not leading in the polls but we have strong issues and a strong issue environment,'' she said.

``Right now this campaign is like a race for president of a high school student body. It reflects who's more popular, who looks nicer, who has the coolest friends. It's not going to be like that in November,'' she said.