WASHINGTON (AFP) — Three-quarters of US voters want the first debate between Republican presidential candidate John McCain and his Democratic rival Barack Obama to go ahead Friday, even though McCain has asked for a delay, a poll showed.
Citing the turmoil on Wall Street, McCain suspended his presidential campaign Wednesday and called for a postponement of the debate, saying he wanted to join efforts in Washington to chart a way out of the worst financial crisis in decades.
But Obama has said he intends to show up for the debate Friday evening in Mississippi, arguing it was more important than ever for the American people to hear from the two men battling to be the next president.
A poll conducted by SurveyUSA showed that 74 percent of 1,200 American voters surveyed side with Obama and want the debate to go ahead.
A separate poll, conducted by CNN/Opinion Research Corporation, showed that nearly six in 10 Americans think Obama will win the debates, against less than one-third who are putting their money on McCain.
Nearly 60 percent of the 1,020 people polled for the CNN/ORC poll said the floundering US economy was the key election issue.
And more than half those polled by CNN/ORC -- 53 percent -- said they had more faith in Obama when it comes to dealing with economic issues than in McCain, who had the trust of 43 percent of voters.
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