More than four out of 10 voters - 42% - said they think Obama will win the debate Friday, compared to 31% who said they think McCain will come out ahead on points. Another 27% said they are unsure who might win.

The debate, to be held at the University of Mississippi at Oxford, Mississippi, is to focus on foreign policy. It is the first of three presidential debates to be held before the Nov. 4 election. One of the three will feature a town hall-style format, while the other two - including Friday's - will feature the candidates sitting at a table with a single moderator. A fourth debate will feature the vice presidential candidates.

Democrats are much more confident in their candidate than Republicans are in theirs, the Zogby online survey shows. Among Democrats, 79% said they think Obama will win the face-off, while just 62% of Republicans think McCain will come out ahead. Among political independents, it is a much closer question, as 34% said they think Obama will perform better, compared to 27% who said McCain should win. Forty percent of likely voting independents said they are unsure what will happen on Friday.

In terms of age groupings, those under age 65 believe Obama will come out the winner, while those age 65 and think McCain will win.

The interactive online survey, using Zogby's proven interactive methodology that has been under development for a decade and which has produced extraordinarily accurate results in both the 2004 presidential race and the 2006 midterms, was conducted Sept. 19-20, 2008, and included 2,331 likely voters nationwide. It carries a margin of error of +/- 2.1 percentage points. For more information on Zogby's interactive polling methods, please visit: www.zogby.com, and click on the "Zogby Interactive" button in the upper left hand corner of the page.

The stakes for Friday are high, the survey shows. Nearly two out of three voters - 62% - said the face-to-face meetings will be an important factor in helping them decide for whom to vote this fall. Another 38% said they would not be an important factor in their decision-making process. This is especially true among independent voters, 71% of whom said they will be important in helping them make up their minds - 20% of independents said it would be "very important" in their decision.

Among those who said they were unsure about whom to support in the presidential race, 63% said the debates would be important. Women were slightly more likely than men to say the debates would be important to helping them make up their minds, the poll shows.

Overall, likely voters in the online survey said this year's debates were more important than in past presidential elections - 78% said as much. And Democrats are more likely to feel this way than Republicans, as 82% said they would be more important than in the past, compared to 73% of Republicans agreed. Among independent voters, 79% said they would be more important than in the past.

And, 78% of those who said they were yet unsure for whom to vote said the debates would be important, include 59% who said they would be "very important" compared to past elections.

Moral Integrity More Important than Intelligence, Common Sense, and Patriotism

Debate viewers will no doubt be taking the measure of the men on the stage Friday, judging not just their words, but trying to get a sense of who they are as people, and this latest Zogby Interactive survey shows moral integrity is more important than intelligence, common sense, and patriotism.

Totals may not add up to 100% due to rounding

Thirty-seven percent said moral integrity is more important, while 29% said intelligence and 28% said common sense was most important, the nationwide poll shows. Just 4% said patriotism is more important than these other qualities in a President.

While Democrats were much more likely to say intelligence is the most important of these four qualities, Republicans were instead likely to say moral integrity was most important. Independent voters were split on the question, with 34% saying moral integrity was most important and 32% saying common sense was most important. Among independents, intelligence was a close third, as 27% said it was the most important personal attribute a President should possess.

Both men and women agreed that moral integrity was the most important quality of the four, the survey shows. 

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Zogby International was the most accurate pollster in every one of the last three presidential election cycles, and continues to perfect its telephone and interactive methodologies using its own live operator, in-house call center in Upstate New York, and its own secure servers for its online polling projects.

In the 2004 presidential election, not only was Zogby's telephone polling right on the money, its interactive polling also nailed the election as well. In 2006, the Zogby Interactive online polling was on the money in 17 of 18 U.S. Senate races (the 18^th was within the margin of error)  a record of accuracy that is unmatched in the industry - as no other leading firm even attempts to poll statewide political races using an interactive methodology for public consumption.

For a complete methodological statement on this survey, please visit:

http://www.zogby.com/methodology/readmeth.cfm?ID=1335