WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (Xinhuanet) -- US President George W. Bush's lead in the race for the White House before his first face-to-facedebate with John Kerry has vanished, as a solid majority of voters concluded that Kerry won the presidential debate, a Newsweek poll showed Saturday.

    In the first national telephone poll after Thursday's debate, 47 percent of registered voters said they would vote for Kerry, compared with 45 percent for Bush, in a three-way race. Independent candidate Ralph Nader did not take part in the debate.

    In a two-way contest, the Kerry-Edwards ticket leads the Bush-Cheney ticket with 49 percent versus 46 percent, the poll showed. Four weeks ago the Republican ticket, coming out of a successful convention in New York, enjoyed an 11-point lead and Bush was supported by 52 percent of the vote and Kerry just 41 percent.

    Among 74 percent of registered voters who say they watched at least some of Thursday's debate, 61 percent see Kerry as the clearwinner, 19 percent pick Bush as the victor and 16 percent call it a draw. Even 33 percent of Republicans say they felt Kerry won.

    By a wide margin, or 62 percent to 26 percent, debate watchers felt Kerry came across as more confident than the president. More than half (56 percent) see Kerry has having a better command of the facts than Bush (37 percent). Kerry, typically characterized as aloof and out of touch by his opponents, came across as more personally likeable than Bush, by 47 percent to 41 percent.

    The poll showed that Bush's approval ratings have dropped to below the halfway mark (46 percent) for the first time since the Republican National Convention in late August. Nearly half of all voters (48 percent) say they do not want to see Bush re-elected, while 46 percent say they do. Still, a majority of voters (55 percent versus 29 percent) believe the president will be re-hired on Nov. 2.

    The debate in Florida, the first of three debates between the two candidates in a two-week period, focused on foreign policy andhomeland security. The Iraq war dominated the debate.

    Instant polls after the debate showed that many Americans thought Kerry outdid Bush. But the Bush campaign dismissed the polls, pointing to instant polls after the first debate four yearsago Bush had with Al Gore. The polls showed Gore a clear winner.

    The Newsweek poll is not an instant poll.

    Domestic issues will be the focus of the third debate on Oct. 13, in Tempe, Arizona. The Democrat is preferred to Bush by double-digit spreads on who would be better at handling the economy (52 percent to 39 percent), foreign competition (54 percent to 36 percent) and health care (56 percent to 34 percent),according to the poll.

    Researchers for the poll interviewed 1,013 registered voters aged 18 and older between Thursday and Saturday by telephone. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points. Enditem