UNDECIDED VOTERS FIND PALIN LIKEABLE

...Palin did well when people were asked who would do a better job bringing change to Washington. Palin, they found, 58 percent to 42 percent. And roughly two-thirds said they like her, and some 53 percent found her believable. That's a significant number in a debate watched by an estimated 69.9 million viewers -- more than the previous presidential debate.

"I like Palin," said one of the people surveyed in the Ipsos/McClatchy poll, Democrat Greg Brantley, 47, of Irving, Texas.

"She's very outgoing, she's real friendly, she seems to know what she's talking about," said Brantley, who thinks he'll vote for McCain. "She just seems like an average person you could walk down the street and pick up a conversation with her."

Although the most significant findings in the poll are about which direction undecided voters are leaning, there might be something to be learned from Palin's overwhelmingly positive likeability numbers, Young said. It may be that in tough economic times, voters yearn for a candidate who feels their pain.

"We don't we have a 'great communicator' this year, like Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton," Young said.

Voter Judy Williams of Caliente, Calif., agreed, saying she liked how both vice presidential candidates seemed "sincere and very sympathetic."

"I think we really need someone who can see what us middle classers are going through and taking up our cause," she said

Williams also said that Palin exceeded her expectations during the debate and is leaning toward voting for McCain, but she likes Biden so much that if he were on the top of the ticket, she would vote for him for president. She was especially moved when Biden choked up while speaking about the loss of his first wife in a car crash.

"I was very touched by it," she said. "I could definitely sympathize."