美国东部时间2004年10月8日晚9时,美国总统布什和民主党总统候选人克里在密苏里州圣路易斯华盛顿大学进行了第二次面对面的激烈辩论。双方舌战的焦点是伊拉克战争、医疗保健以及财政预算等问题。由于民调显示布什在首场辩论中不敌克里,所以此次辩论对布什意义重大。据美国有线新闻网、《今日美国》和盖洛普公司在辩论后进行的抽样调查显示,布什与克里在此次辩论中基本打成平手。此外,50%的受访者表示会投票给布什,46%的人支持克里。
新华社报道如下:
A snap poll taken immediately after Friday night's presidential debate found there was no clear winner in the second encounter between Republican President GeorgeW. Bush and his Democratic challenger, Senator John Kerry.
Overall, 47 percent of the respondents said Kerry won, while 45percent said the edge went to Bush, well within the poll's plus-or-minus five percentage point error margin, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup snap poll.
The respondents included 515 registered voters who watched the debate. Their political affiliations broke down as 38 percent Republican, 32 percent Democratic and 30 percent independent.
Snap poll表示“实时调查,即席调查”,因为snap具有“突然的;仓促的”的意思。和snap的这个意义相关的词组还有很多,例如:snap to [in, into] it([俚]赶快开始干);snap up(抢购;抢先弄到手;匆匆吃下);snap sb. up(怒气冲冲地顶撞某人; 不耐烦或愤怒地打断某人谈话);in a snap(立刻,马上)等。