Three Post Debate Polls:

[Nicholas_J]

Bush, Kerry hit each other on domestic issues
Battleground states ahead after candidates' final debate
Thursday, October 14, 2004 Posted: 8:31 AM EDT (1231 GMT)


Sen. John Kerry and President Bush greet the audience before the start of the debate.


TEMPE, Arizona (CNN) -- President Bush and Democratic rival Sen. John Kerry met on Wednesday for their final debate, clashing on issues ranging from the economy to jobs, taxes and same-sex marriage.

With the three debates over, the candidates planned to visit several battleground states to hammer home their messages in the final weeks before Election Day. National surveys show the candidates running neck-and-neck, intensifying the importance of the campaign's home stretch.

Like the previous two presidential debates, the tone Wednesday was cordial yet spirited, as Bush accused Kerry of doing little but listing complaints and Kerry accused the president of failing to act on matters such as health care and jobs.

The debate hall was filled with a flurry of facts and figures this time, more so than in the previous debates. At least one viewer said she went away confused.

"I wanted to hear some specifics, but what they say doesn't make any sense," Connie Narduzzo, 84, of Syracuse, New York told The Associated Press. "They just seem to go back and forth, throwing numbers at each other."

Also like the previous face-offs, a poll of viewers indicated that Kerry did a better job of debating.

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released shortly after the debate indicated that more who watched it gave Kerry the edge. Among the poll's 511 respondents, 53 percent said Kerry did better, and 39 percent said Bush did. The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 5 percentage points.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/13/debate.main/index.html

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TEMPE, Ariz., Oct. 14, 2004



Who Won Final Debate?


(CBS/AP) In their final televised debate Wednesday evening, Sen. John Kerry and President Bush clashed on domestic issues from homeland security to health care, immigration to tax cuts, abortion to the minimum wage.

A buoyant Mr. Bush, smiling when his opponent spoke, labeled his Democratic opponent an extreme liberal.

"There's a mainstream in American politics and you sit right on the far left bank," Mr. Bush said in the third and final debate of a close and contentious campaign for the White House.

But the Democratic challenger said many of the nation's ills can be laid at the feet of a president who "regrettably rushed us into war" in Iraq and is the first White House occupant in seven decades to preside over a net loss of jobs.

A CBS News poll of uncommitted voters who watched the debate named Kerry the winner by 39-25 percent over Mr. Bush, with 36 percent calling it a tie. Fifty-nine percent said Kerry has clear positions on the issues. Before the third debate, only 31 percent of the same voters said Kerry had clear positions.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/08/politics/main641817.shtml

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Bush, Kerry hit each other on domestic issues
Battleground states ahead after candidates' final debate
Thursday, October 14, 2004 Posted: 8:31 AM EDT (1231 GMT)


TEMPE, Arizona (CNN) -- President Bush and Democratic rival Sen. John Kerry met on Wednesday for their final debate, clashing on issues ranging from the economy to jobs, taxes and same-sex marriage.

With the three debates over, the candidates planned to visit several battleground states to hammer home their messages in the final weeks before Election Day. National surveys show the candidates running neck-and-neck, intensifying the importance of the campaign's home stretch.

Like the previous two presidential debates, the tone Wednesday was cordial yet spirited, as Bush accused Kerry of doing little but listing complaints and Kerry accused the president of failing to act on matters such as health care and jobs.

The debate hall was filled with a flurry of facts and figures this time, more so than in the previous debates. At least one viewer said she went away confused.

"I wanted to hear some specifics, but what they say doesn't make any sense," Connie Narduzzo, 84, of Syracuse, New York told The Associated Press. "They just seem to go back and forth, throwing numbers at each other."

Also like the previous face-offs, a poll of viewers indicated that Kerry did a better job of debating.

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released shortly after the debate indicated that more who watched it gave Kerry the edge. Among the poll's 511 respondents, 53 percent said Kerry did better, and 39 percent said Bush did. The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 5 percentage points.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/13/debate.main/index.html