ANVERS - As he settled in to watch last night's debate, Phil Baxter was no admirer of George W. Bush. He opposes the governor's plan to drill in Alaska to avert an oil crisis and was worried that Bush's tax policies favor the wealthy.

Yet Baxter came away so impressed by the Republican candidate that he was considering casting a vote his way. Considering being the key word.

''I think both candidates still need to prove themselves,'' said Baxter, 45, an independent voter and business systems consultant at Compaq, who watched the debate with six other undecided voters in Danvers.

With a scant five weeks before the election, these viewers were still weighing their votes - despite Democratic and Republican tendencies that became more pronounced as the debate moved along. But most surprising, even to the voters themselves, was the performance of the heavily favored, more experienced debater Vice President Al Gore, whose repeated interruptions during the debate were met in this Danvers living room with repeated groans.

''See, this is talking down,'' griped Dr. Martin Zelin, a psychologist and Tufts University professor, who tends toward Gore, but was turned off by his demeanor as the vice president asserted he would not make attacks on his opponent.

Eileen Driscoll, a 39-year-old single mother who works in sales and tends toward the left, said she was underwhelmed by Gore's performance. ''I expected more from the candidate,'' Driscoll said. ''He didn't show himself to be as presidential as Bush did and that worries me. I was shocked at how it went tonight.''

Still, as with Baxter, the vote for Driscoll comes down to two key issues - the economy and abortion. Baxter tracks toward Gore's tax cuts, but opposes abortion and appreciated Bush's stance on outlawing partial birth abortions and requiring parental consent. Driscoll, who supports abortion rights, heard Bush's statements on judicial appointments to the Supreme Court as signalling the end of Roe v. Wade.

Pat Toomey, 60, a teacher and Democrat-turned-independent, was impressed by Bush's statements on abortion. ''He's the first political candidate in a long time who said, `This is wrong,''' she said.

Toomey also favors Bush's plan to allow parents to use vouchers so that children can attend their schools of choice. Bush's showing in the debate confirmed her instincts that she'd be voting Republican next month.

Danvers, 17 miles north of Boston, has a population of 24,174 with a slightly more balanced mix of Democrats and Republicans than many Massachusetts communities, and a healthy dose of independent thinking.

Bill Bates, 39, a rightward-leaning independent who owns Howe's Station Market in Middletown, largely credits the Republican Congress for the economic gains that occurred during Clinton's presidency, and was pleased that Bush spoke of bipartisan cooperation in his agenda.

''I was waiting for a politican to say, forget the party politics,'' he said. Bates also favored Bush's refrain that he aims to empower people - and agreed with the accusation that Gore would only inflate government.

Bates bristled at Gore's refrain that half of Bush's tax cuts would benefit the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, saying he did not trust the numbers. So, too, did Russell Stevens, 76, a Republican who embraced Bush's plan to give more power to the states in education and credited the governor for delivering his best point all night when he described how low Social Security investment returns are.

Certainly, Bush lost points with these viewers, who bristled at his aggressiveness at times with Gore, and grew more than tired of his use of the phrase ''fuzzy math.'' He turned off even those leaning his way with his reactions to questions on handling a crisis and left some distrustful of his math or his methods.

But for this crowd, Bush delivered the sound bite of the night on Social Security - ''a promise made will be a promise kept'' - and surprised with his skill at the podium.

It was Gore who drew the most negative personal reactions. ''He talks too much,'' said Nancy Dolan, 40, an uncommitted Republican who found herself on Bush's side by the night's end.

''It's all me, me, me,'' Zelin said, as Gore spoke of his work staving off international financial crises.

''I feel like he's treating me like a child,'' Toomey said.

And while Gore earned credit for prosperity under the Clinton administration, these voters suggested he would have to do more on his own to claim their votes.

''Empowering the peopole is very important to me,'' said Dolan. ''Al Gore was more of the same-old, same-old, tax and spend.''