A recent poll shows that even though Americans think Senator John Kerry did the best job in the debates, the Democratic nominee appears to have lost some ground to President George W. Bush in the popularity contest.
A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Sunday indicated an edge of 49 percent to 46 percent for Bush among more than one thousand adult Americans who were interviewed by telephone Thursday through Saturday. Such a figure is still practically even -- given the margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
But among likely voters Bush had a larger spread -- 52 percent to 44 percent. That compared with a 49 percent to 46 percent edge for Bush in the previous poll.
In the previous Gallup poll, taken October 9-10 after the second debate on October 8, Kerry and Bush were tied at 48 percent among registered voters.