McCain last week abruptly announced he would suspend his campaign, skip the debate and return to Washington to help with negotiations over a bailout package on Capitol Hill. A day later, after being accused of disrupting the delicate talks, he reversed course and flew to Mississippi for the debate, the first of three scheduled between the presidential contenders.
The maneuver was viewed unfavorably by 46% of debate-watchers, who said they believed McCain was "playing politics"; 38% said he was "acting for the good of the country."
"It just seemed like there was an element of self-serving politics," said Dan Wiethorn, 49, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., who described McCain's behavior as "a little flaky."
Wiethorn, who works for a subsidiary of General Motors, had been leaning toward Obama before the debate, and said he was now more likely to vote for him. He said he was particularly concerned about McCain's age after watching him Friday night.
National surveys too show that Obama is opening up a more substantial lead over McCain, with the latest Gallup tracking poll giving the Democrat an 8-percentage-point advantage, one point less than his biggest lead of the year.
At the debate itself, however, Obama did not appear to have scored a major victory.
More voters in the Times/Bloomberg poll -- 34% -- thought the debate was a draw than believed either candidate had prevailed. And 33% of debate-watchers said Obama did the best job, a four-point margin over McCain.
More than 8 in 10 registered voters who watched the debate said it had not changed their opinion about either Obama or McCain.
"There were times that Obama expressed himself better than McCain did," said Joan Pruiett, 72, of West Terre Haute, Ind. "But McCain did a good job of expressing himself in the latter part of the debate," which focused more on foreign policy. Pruiett said she planned to vote for McCain.
The Times/Bloomberg poll also showed that the two candidates continue to have distinct strengths. Voters still tend to trust McCain more on international affairs, while they think Obama has better ideas for strengthening the economy.
But there are indications Obama is building on his strengths and chipping away at some of McCain's. After the debate, the Democratic nominee enjoyed a 12-point advantage on the question of which candidate could be trusted to handle the nation's financial crisis, twice the margin he had a week earlier with the same voters.
