Well when you said he "had the polls backing him up" I took that as meaning he "won" and then the "presidential polls" have moved so that Kerry is winning.
I am a conservative republican but I can admit when Bush did not have his best showing. The first debate was not his best, the second debate was a lot more and you are seeing a shift in the polls. Rasmussen for the first time is showing any candidate in this case Bush with 50% of the vote, and that is with only 5% of the polls coming after the 2nd debate.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/Presidential_Tracking_Poll.htm