ALLENTOWN, PA. — To a small cross section of crucial voters gathered in this presidential battleground, Friday's debate provided a slight boost for Republican John McCain but left him and Democrat Barack Obama with much to do to sway fence-sitters in the next five weeks.
More than a dozen undecided voters gathered Friday night at Muhlenberg College, a small liberal arts school in eastern Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley, a region traditionally coveted by presidential candidates because of its high concentration of swing voters.
Six of the 14 voters said they were more likely to vote for McCain after the 90-minute session, and four said the same of Obama. Four said they remained unswayed.
Bruce Glazier, a registered Republican from Upper Macungie Township who has voted Democratic in the last two elections, said he was leaning more strongly toward McCain.
"McCain seemed a little more polished," said Glazier, who works in credit and collections. "He really unflapped [Obama] quite a few times." He declined to cite an example. "I just felt Obama lost it. He is not as believable as McCain."
Lynn Koehler, a 53-year-old registered Democrat from Lower Saucon Township, was undecided about whom to vote for before the debate. Afterward, she said she was leaning "slightly more" toward Obama, "because of how thoughtful he was," she said. "He definitely seemed to know more than I thought."
All 14 voters assembled by Muhlenberg College's Institute of Public Opinion were self-described undecided voters. Nine were registered Democrats, five were registered Republicans. They recorded their immediate reactions to the candidates' responses using number keypads, rating their answers on a scale of 1 through 5.
Christopher Borick, the institute's director, said it provided an unscientific glimpse into how fence-sitters in a crucial region viewed the first head-to-head of the general election.
The voters remained mostly silent as they watched the debate on a big-screen TV, rarely showing emotion even during the few times when the audience at the University of Mississippi reacted.
Afterward, five said they thought McCain had won the debate, versus two for Obama. The rest said neither scored a victory.
On the individual answers, neither candidate appeared to hold much of an upper hand among the group, roughly half of whom regularly scored answers above average for each candidate.
Still, both candidates had their moments.
