NewsMax.com's Fr. Michael Reilly reports on yet another poll showing that John Kerry's first debate performance failed to dent President Bush's popularity.
Despite a stumbling performance in last Thursday's debate, President Bush still leads John Kerry in the Rasmussen Daily Tracking poll by a margin of four points, 49 percent to 45 percent.
Rasmussen interviews 1,000 potential voters each night and posts a three-day running average. This sample includes interviews on Thursday and Friday nights as well as Saturday afternoon, so the survey is almost entirely post-debate.
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Significantly, the poll's internal numbers show increasing support for accomplishing the mission in Iraq, with 57 percent of those surveyed saying that finishing the mission is more important than getting the troops home as soon as possible.
Before Thursday debate, that number was actually 5 points lower - 52 percent.
Likewise, the number of those who felt bringing the troops home should be the top priority also declined, from 42 percent before the debate to 37 after.
Fifty-four percent in the Rasmussen survey believe U.S. forces should stay in Iraq until the country becomes stable, while only 31 percent are opposed. Forty-eight percent say we cannot win the war on terror without stabilizing Iraq, while only 29 percent disagree.
In surveys just prior to the Bush-Kerry debate, 46 percent agreed that stabilizing Iraq is more important to the war on terror than capturing Osama bin Laden.
And in more good news for the White House, a full 50 percent of those surveyed now identify Sen. Kerry as a liberal.
Editor's note:
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2004 Elections
George W. Bush
Sen. John Kerry
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