Most voters say not very much. You can read about that here.

Now, compare that to articles like this:

Showtime for Kerry

By THOMAS M. DeFRANKDAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
CHIEF Wednesday, September 29th, 2004 WASHINGTON - After eight months of increasingly scornful long-distance sniping, President Bush and John Kerry finally confront each other tomorrow in a debate far more urgent for the challenger.
Bush’s aides believe he can win the 90-minute high-stakes Florida encounter simply by projecting a steady, calm demeanor and sticking to his script.
“The only thing he has to do is avoid a major gaffe,” a senior Bush source told the Daily News.
Kerry’s task is more formidable: convincing undecided voters, and even some unenthused Democrats, that he is not the wishy-washy liberal Bush and his lieutenants have gleefully portrayed to withering effect.
Democratic strategists also say Kerry must capitalize on growing voter unrest over Iraq - the single issue Bush political handlers genuinely fear - without triggering a backlash among voters who tend to back the commander-in-chief in wartime.
“Bush has changed the argument into a referendum on who’s better for the next four years,” said former Al Gore aide Chris Lehane, a crisis communications expert. “Kerry needs to make this a referendum on the last four years.”
The Massachusetts Democrat also must present a credible defense against the “Senator Flip-Flop” attack line Bush and his surrogates have hammered away on relentlessly and that Bush will reprise tomorrow.
The stakes are enormous. With possibly 50 million Americans expected to tune in, the Coral Gables shootout is the final opportunity for the candidates to command the electorate’s undivided attention - and for impressions to be reinforced or altered.
Stylistically, Bush has been warned to “avoid the swagger,” one old friend said, and stick with the talking points of his campaign stump speech.
Aides also have compiled a list of one-line zingers for the Republican to hurl at Kerry.
Kerry has been coached to avoid the ponderous, nuance-laden expositions that made him a champion scholastic debater but have contributed to an impression, abetted by the Bush campaign, of a condescending windbag.
“Short answers,” a prominent Democratic strategist advised. “Kerry has to speak like he’s in a diner, not the well of the Senate.”
Standing at 50-inch lecterns set 10 feet apart, the two gladiators will face the nation from the basketball arena at the University of Miami.
It is the first of three debates, including a town hall meeting at Washington University in St. Louis next Friday, and a final clash at Arizona State University on Oct. 13. Traditionally, however, the first debate draws the largest television audience.
The inaugural contest is limited to foreign affairs, a topic Bush’s aides believe overwhelmingly favors the President. The first session was originally scheduled for domestic policy, but Bush’s negotiators were so intent on reversing the order they settled for a third debate Bush didn’t want.
“Unless somebody makes a huge mistake, the first debate is the only one that really matters,” a senior Bush adviser said, “and now the first one is playing to Bush’s strength.”
Kerry and Bush have been quietly preparing for this encounter for weeks, with hours of study time and mock debates with stand-ins trying to rattle them and aides peppering them with nasty questions.

If the “conventional wisdom” is that Kerry really needs a strong performance in the debates, but most people say the debates aren’t going to effect their voting decision, then the Kerry camp has a big problem.