ST. LOUIS — President Bush bounced back from a less-than-stellar performance in his first debate to finish virtually tied with Democrat John Kerry in their second encounter here Friday, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll of debate watchers shows.So let's think about this. John Kerry's a lawyer and by definition should be a great debater. That's what lawyer's do. But we now have "inarticulate" W up there in a virtual tie with Kerry. And when you look behind the numbers to the issues, Bush is no worse than tied and has the most important issue as a double digit blowout in his favor.
Overall, 47% of the 515 registered voters surveyed said Kerry won, while 45% said the edge went to Bush, well within the poll's plus-or-minus 5 percentage point error margin.
And on who could better handle the three key issues of the 2004 campaign — the economy, Iraq and the war on terror — Bush more than held his own.
On the economy, debate watchers said Bush and Kerry tied at 49% each.
But they said Bush came off as better able to handle the war in Iraq, 53% to 46%.
And Bush was rated higher than Kerry on managing the overall war on terror, 56% to 39%.
UPDATE: Oh, and John Howard has won! Wretchard has it nailed.
And Bush does this well with memos like this leaking out of ABC -- the network that moderated last night's debate -- and Gibson clearly favoring Kerry with the questions. If it wasn't for the MSM spin, Bush would be trouncing Kerry right now.
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