Las Vegas NowLocal Focus Group Watches Presidential Debate

Local Focus Group Watches Presidential Debate

Nevada is a key battleground state in this presidential election. Friday night, CBS got undecided voters to take part in a focus group to calculate what if any of the debate struck home with them.

CBS News brought together a group of undecided voters at the MGM Grand. Modern technology gives essentially a second-by-second tracking poll during the entire debate.

They lined up at CBS' Television City Research Center at the MGM, but it wasn't for the usual Hollywood screening. Uncommitted voters are deciding who they want to go to Washington and Nielsen gives a real-time glimpse into public opinion.

Just follow the jagged white line. It tells what worked for this crowd, and what didn't.

As Senators Barack Obama and John McCain squared off, a team from CBS monitored the data from 50 undecided voters, constantly turning the dials in the Las Vegas facility with each candidate's spoken word.

"The war in Iraq. I agreed more with Obama on," Daniel McGuire is an independent who leans libertarian. "I actually thought McCain was a little bit better on the bailout."

Maryann Brothers went in mostly undecided and came out clearly supporting Obama, "I'm sorry to say, I expected McCain to really come out with a change and I didn't hear that."

One debate down with two to go and so much can change.

"If we were voting today, I'd vote for Obama," said Jay Needleman. This lifelong Republican is supporting Obama, for now. "It can be changed until I walked into the polling place."

Among the group of voters sampled Friday, Senator Obama won the debate.