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WASHINGTON — When President Clinton addressed a cheering throng of supporters at a major Jewish conference here recently, the voices of nearly 1,000 college students soared above the rest, turning a call for "four more years" into a thunderous chant.

Only months before the election, it is a constituency that the president appears likely to capture.

"Clinton is the one who's really speaking to us," said Katie Friedman, a senior at Stanford University who had come to Washington to attend the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

"I know that people have accused him of waffling, but I think there's an honest desire to make change and make things work in his policies," she said.

Talk of presidential politics among Jewish college students at the conference revealed clear support for a second Clinton term.

The vast majority of the students who spoke in random interviews described themselves as liberals and moderates to the left of center.

Some said they were ardent Clinton supporters. Others voiced reservations, but said they would easily back Clinton over GOPnominee Bob Dole. Few placed themselves firmly behind Dole.

Those interviewed identified several issues they see as important to Jewish college students: support for education and student financial aid; support for Israel, the peace process and foreign aid; and protecting abortion rights and affirmative action programs.

Mark Mellman, who heads the Washington-based Mellman Group, a Democratic polling firm, says at least 80 percent of Jews nationwide will back Clinton.

Among young people, he believes, 60 percent will cast their ballot for a second Clinton term.

"You put that together, and the chances are you're going to find an awfully large number" of young Jewish voters "backing Clinton," he said.

Some GOP activists and pollsters, however, cast doubt on that assumption.

While acknowledging that most college students have historically leaned left politically, they point to a growing number of young voters, including Jews, who are turning to the Republican Party.

"Younger Jews are much more sympathetic to the Republican message of trying to strengthen and make life for the family easier," said Matthew Brooks, executive director of the National Jewish Coalition, a Republican group.

But he conceded that the Republican Party generally finds more support among college graduates and those in the work force than among students.

Still, there were at least a few Dole backers at the conference.

"I don't think Clinton has the leadership it takes for the United States to prosper," said Sara Opatut, a junior at George Washington University.

"He doesn't have definite convictions. I think he tries to pander to every side."

By contrast, she said, "Dole's record as Senate majority leader definitely proves he will stick with his convictions and follow what the American people want."

As a politically conservative Jewish college student, Georgetown senior Natalie Wolf knows she is in the minority.

And some of the Clinton backers qualified their support.

"I haven't been absolutely thrilled with the job Clinton has done in the White House," said Craig Aaron, a junior at Northwestern University.

"I feel like he made campaign promises that he waffled on, but I think he's starting to come into his own and he has a lot of promise for his second term."

When it comes to Israel, most said they feel comfortable with Dole's support for the Jewish state. They cited his leadership in passing legislation to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.

But Clinton's record on Israel appeared to be a tough act to follow.

"He is the most pro-Israel president in the history of the United States," said Aaron Dworkin, a senior at Tufts University.

The superlatives many of the students used to describe Clinton, meanwhile, were matched only by the digs they took at Dole.

"He's too old and too crotchety," said Eric Shabsis, a senior at U.C. Berkeley.

Dan Reich, a sophomore at Yale, is a registered Republican who intends to back Clinton.

"I get the feeling he can get legislation through," Reich said of Dole, "but I don't feel he has any vision of where he wants to take the country or what he wants to do once he's in there."