In an almost-instant poll following the first presidential debate, Barack Obama emerged ahead of John McCain.
A CBS News/Knowledge Network poll of 500 uncommitted voters found that 40 percent thought Obama was the winner, 22 percent though McCain won and 38 percent called it a draw.
Forty-six percent of uncommitted voters said their opinion of Obama improved as a result of the debate.
A CNN/Opinion Research poll of people who had watched the debates said 51 percent thought Obama did the better job in Friday night's debate, while 38 percent said McCain did better.
Sixty percent of viewers said they thought McCain did better than they expected while 57 percent said the same of Obama. More than two-thirs said they believed either man was capable of handling the job of President.
Debate watchers gave Obama a 58 percent to 37 percent edge on which candidate would do a better job handling the economy and Obama bested McCain by a similar margin about who would better handle, in specific, the current financial crisis.
On McCain's forte (at least in most polls), national security, he led Obama only by 49 percent to 45 percent, which was with the poll's 4.5 point margin of error.
CNN polling director Keating Holland said, "The real test will come in a few days when we see whether support for Obama or McCain changes in polls involving all voters, not just debate watchers...(John) Kerry also won the third debate in 2004 with the same numbers that Obama got in tonight's poll, but his support dropped five points after that event."