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 after the 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.

(Xinhua News Agency October 14, 2004)