WASHINGTON - A majority of US voters expect President Barack Obama to do a better job than his Republican challenger Mitt Romney in the first presidential debate, to be held on Wednesday in Denver, Colorado almost a month ahead of the November showdown, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center released on Tuesday.

Zach Gonzales (L), stand-in for Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, and US President Barack Obama stand-in Dia Mohamed rehearse on stage for the first of the 2012 presidential debates which will be held at the University of Denver in Denver October 2, 2012. Obama will face challenger Romney in the first of three debates on October 3.[Photo/Agencies]

The latest Pew poll, conducted from September 27 to 30, found that more voters, by a margin of 51 percent to 29 percent, said Obama would do better than Romney in the upcoming debate.

Among them, 89 percent of Democrats expect Obama to outperform Romney, and 64 percent of Republicans feel confident in their candidate. Forty-four percent of independent voters believe Obama could do a better job, while another 28 percent favor Romney.

The poll also showed that 62 percent of the voters are "very likely" to watch the first debate, comparable to the levels in the 2008 and 2004 presidential debates.

Another Pew survey released last week found that only 54 percent of Americans say they are either very or fairly satisfied with the candidates on this year's campaign trail. The percentage of public satisfaction with the candidates is lower than it has been in any elections since 1992.