An instant poll, conducted after the third and final debate between US
President George W. Bush and Democratic Senator John Kerry Wednesday night,
showed Kerry outperformed Bush by a large margin.
A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, conducted less than one hour afterthe 90-minute
debate in Tempe, Arizona, showed that 52 percent of the 511 voters surveyed
thought Kerry won the debate and 39 percent chose Bush as the winner.
Instant polls are not scientific and can not be assumed to represent the
opinion of the public as a whole. More scientific polls are expected to come out
in one day or two.
The third debate is the only one devoted to domestic issues such as jobs,
health care and Social Security. Polls before the debate showed Kerry has an
edge over many of those issues.
Kerry closed up his gap in opinion polls with Bush after his first debate
with the president on Sept. 30 in Florida. The result of the second debate, held
on Oct. 8 in Missouri, was basically a tie.
