MADRID (AFP) -- Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, tipped to win a second mandate in general elections, bested his conservative rival by a wide margin in a televised debate Monday, opinion polls said.

Polls released immediately after the face-off, which focused on immigration, terrorism and the economy, indicated Zapatero had scored a massive points victory over opposition leader Mariano Rajoy ahead of Sunday's elections.
One by the television channel El Cuatro said 50.8 percent of those polled thought Zapatero had won and 29 percent believed it was Rajoy, while La Sexta television reported figures of 49.2 to 29.08 percent respectively.
The center-left newspaper El Pais also gave it to Zapatero by a margin of 53 to 38 percent. Even the center-right newspaper El Mundo put the prime minister ahead, by 49 to 40 percent.
""Zapatero again beats Rajoy in a debate full of promises,"" El Mundo headlined.
Rajoy was facing perhaps his last chance to deny Zapatero a second mandate.
The last opinion polls allowed before Sunday's election gave Zapatero's ruling Socialist Party a lead of about four percentage points over Rajoy's opposition Popular Party.
""It's double or quits for Rajoy today in the debate,"" said El Mundo prior to the face-off, while El Pais described it as his ""last chance to reverse the tide.""
The opposition has accused the government of mismanaging the economy, which is suffering a slowdown following a construction-led boom, and by vowing to take a hard line on immigration if elected.
A combative Rajoy charged Monday the prime minister had ""got his priorities wrong.""
""We need a government that provides certainty and security, that takes care of the real problems of Spaniards and does not divide them,"" Rajoy said.
Rajoy charged immigration ""is not being controlled.""
""It is unacceptable that there are Spaniards who lose their social rights because foreigners come with lower incomes, who ask for help from social services,"" he said.
Zapatero responded that the only immigrants who can remain are ""those who can legally work.""
The opposition leader again accused the government of ""negotiating with terrorists"" in its failed peace process with the armed Basque separatist group ETA.
Zapatero vowed to support whatever government is elected ""without conditions"" in the fight against terrorism. ""I would like to hear him (Rajoy) say the same thing,"" he said.
Rajoy also accused Zapatero of ""ignoring reality"" over the slowing economy, while Zapatero promised specific measures to revive it.
Zapatero, 47, scored a surprise victory over Rajoy, 52, in a March, 2004 election three days after the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people.
On taking office, Zapatero promptly withdrew Spain's troops from Iraq, something he recalled at Monday's debate.
It was the second televised debate between the two candidates, following a tense confrontation on February 25.
A poll published in El Mundo on Monday found 43.4 percent of voters supported the government against 39.3 percent for the opposition.
That would give Zapatero's party between 157 and 171 seats in Spain's 350-seat parliament, compared with 148 to 161 for the Popular Party.
The poll predicted that turnout would be between 76 and 78 percent, more than the 75 percent which some analysts estimate is necessary for a win by the Socialists, whose voters are traditionally less likely to take part.