COLUMBIA — About half of the Southern Republicans responding to a poll say they either opposed or were outraged by a South Carolina congressman's outburst as President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress.

The Winthrop Univesity poll also showed that large majorities of both independents and Democrats reacted negatively to U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson's interruption of Obama's speech by shouting "You lie!" The State newspaper of Columbia reported.

Winthrop's poll, which included questions asked exclusively for The State, showed almost 68 percent of independents said they were opposed to Wilson's outburst. Overall, 30 percent of independents said they opposed and were outraged by the actions of Wilson, whose district includes a portion of Aiken County.

The survey was conducted Oct. 24-Nov. 7 by telephone. There were 866 respondents, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.