Poll: 46 percent think Obama won debate

PRINCETON, N.J., Sept. 28 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama won the first U.S. presidential debate last week against Republican John McCain, a poll indicates.

USA Today/Gallup Poll found that when asked who did a better job at the debate held Friday, 46 percent of respondents said Obama won, while 34 thought McCain took the debate.

Questions about the debate were asked of a random sample of 1,005 national adults as part of the Gallup Poll Daily tracking program Saturday.

While Republican and Democrats generally gave the debate to their party's respective candidate, among independents, Obama won by 10 points, 43 percent to 33 percent.

Gallup said 30 percent of debate watchers said they came away with a more favorable image of Obama, while just 14 percent said they had a less favorable image of the Illinois senator.

When it came to McCain 21 percent of debate watchers said they developed a less favorable image of him, the same number as said they gained a favorable image of the Arizona senator.

The poll's maximum margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.