WASHINGTON (AP) - The public hasn't taken to Michelle Obama yet, especially whites. And it's got a question about Cindy McCain: Who is she?

People are divided over whether they like Obama, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, with 30 percent seeing her favorably and 35 percent unfavorably, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll released Wednesday.

They tilt positively toward McCain, spouse of Republican hopeful John McCain, by 27 percent to 17 percent.

In other words: While the two women are about equally liked, Obama is twice as disliked as McCain.

"Cindy seems like she's laid back and not trying to run her husband," said Linda Kaiser, 60, a Republican and church secretary from Clairton, Pa. "It's nice to have a brain, but they should let their husband be president."

Whites have an unfavorable view of Obama by 18 percentage points, while eight in 10 blacks like her. That is reminiscent of how Barack Obama fared in the Democratic primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In the AP-Yahoo! News poll, whites saw McCain positively by 17 points, while one in eight blacks like her.

Michelle Obama does better with unmarried people and college graduates but is viewed poorly by people age 65 and up. McCain is seen more favorably by older people, marrieds and the more affluent, but is less well received by singles.

McCain is also more of a mystery. Nearly six in 10, or 56 percent, said they know too little to say much about her ? exceeding the 34 percent clueless about Obama. Half of Republicans say they don't know McCain, while three in 10 Democrats say that about Obama.

Obama seems to incite stronger feelings. One in five had very negative views of her, triple the number who said so about McCain. One in ten had very favorable views of Obama, double McCain's number. "She's African American, she's highly articulate, she's young and she seems highly devoted to her husband and her family," said Edythe Friley, 61, a retired teacher from Detroit. "She serves as a role model. There's not a parent on planet Earth who wouldn't want a daughter like this."

Obama has been in the spotlight more than McCain, including stories on whether she was trying to reshape her image.

Obama, 44, a lawyer and hospital administrator, took flak in February when she said she was proud of her country "for the first time in my adult life." McCain, 54, heiress to an Arizona beer distributorship, revealed in May that she earned more than $6 million in 2006 after saying she would never release her income tax returns.

The AP-Yahoo! News survey of 1,759 adults was conducted from June 13-23 and had an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. Included were interviews with 844 Democrats and 637 Republicans, for whom the margins of sampling error were plus or minus 3.4 points and 3.9 points, respectively.

The poll was conducted over the Internet by Knowledge Networks, which initially contacted people using traditional telephone polling methods and followed with online interviews. People chosen for the study who had no Internet access were given it for free.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)