  The sensitivity of momentum distributions, recoil polarization observables,
and response functions for nucleon knockout by polarized electrons to channel
coupling in final-state interactions is investigated using a model in which
both the distorting and the coupling potentials are constructed by folding
density-dependent effective interactions with nuclear transition densities.
Calculations for $^{16}$O are presented for 200 and 433 MeV ejectile energies,
corresponding to proposed experiments at MAMI and TJNAF, and for $^{12}$C at 70
and 270 MeV, corresponding to experiments at NIKHEF and MIT-Bates. The relative
importance of charge exchange decreases as the ejectile energy increases, but
remains significant for 200 MeV. Both proton and neutron knockout cross
sections for large recoil momenta, $p_m > 300$ MeV/c, are substantially
affected by inelastic couplings even at 433 MeV. Significant effects on the
cross section for neutron knockout are also predicted at smaller recoil
momenta, especially for low energies. Polarization transfer for proton knockout
is insensitive to channel coupling, even for fairly low ejectile energies, but
polarization transfer for neutron knockout retains nonnegligible sensitivity to
channel coupling for energies up to about 200 MeV. The present results suggest
that possible medium modifications of neutron and proton electromagnetic form
factors for $Q^2 \gtrsim 0.5 (GeV/c)^2$ can be studied using recoil
polarization with relatively little sensitivity due to final state
interactions.
