The debate, televised from the University of Mississippi, came with only five weeks to go before the Nov. 4 election, and reactions showed many voters simply confirmed their preferences as they watched.
Although the agreed debate topic was foreign policy, many viewers were listening for clues about how each candidate would deal with the current economic crisis and the slump the next president will certainly inherit.
In the Denver suburb of Wheat Ridge, Colo., financial services worker Evelyn Gifford, a Republican, watched the debate nestled on the couch with her husband and their dog. She was concerned that neither candidate got to the core of her questions about the economy.
"My bank crashed today, I'm a WAMU (Washington Mutual) customer," said Gifford, 43, a business analyst with a financial services and insurance company that was seized by federal regulators. "Eight years ago my job was hyper, but with the financial situation the way it is, we're going to have layoffs. I'm scared."
Predictably, McCain's framework for addressing the country's teetering economy did not convince most of the 280 at the San Francisco theater.
"He's fumbling," said Jenn Lucien, a 31-year-old real estate agent there. "McCain will stick with the Republican status quo, and nothing he's said has changed my mind about that."
h Obama's vow that no taxpayer money going to bail out Wall Street would end up in CEOs' pockets got loud applause, and both candidates' calls for accountability were met with calls of "fire Bush."
"He's clear, he's communicating succinctly. He's empathizing, but he's not losing his cool, he's not weak," said Peter Coats, 29, a civil engineer, said of Obama, whose lapel buttons decorated shirts throughout the room.
The Sandy Springs debate party, sponsored by the local GOP, brought 70 Republicans to a stripmall storefront, where at times the audible scoffing at Obama was shushed so listeners wouldn't miss what was being said next.
Kelli May, 26, a special-needs teacher from Milton, Ga., watched the debate wearing a button that said "Maverick Barracuda 2008" and clapped loudly for McCain.
"He's going to take care of our country from a national security standpoint," she said, explaining that his experience "hands down" makes him more qualified to be president than Obama. May, a self-described "military brat," said McCain's military background appeals to her, because "in the military they take care of their people."
Friday's debate made the gap between the two candidates apparent, said Shawn Hanley, chairman of the Fulton County Republican Party in Georgia.
"It was really a difference between experience and non-experience. It was a difference between being presidential and someone who's really just searching for a title," Hanley said.
Obama looked confused and flustered, and his facial expressions made him look lost and unsure; McCain never stuttered or stammered, he said.
In a Boston University student center crowd that leaned toward Obama, registered Republican Blake Fusilier, 21, a junior chemistry major, said he was still undecided after the debate.
