GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- If John Kerry emerges as the Democratic nominee for president this year, his public persona has the potential to give him an important advantage over President Bush. According to a recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, Kerry's ratings on a variety of personal and leadership qualities are almost uniformly superior to Bush's. This advantage may be short-lived, however, in part because Kerry is still less widely known than Bush, and thus has garnered little in the way of negatives, and also because this poll was taken at a time when President Bush's overall standing was near the low point of his term in office (due in part to publicity surrounding the Democratic primaries).
Gallup asked Americans to evaluate Bush and Kerry separately on eight personal characteristics and qualities. When looking just at the percentage saying a variety of characteristics "apply" to each man, the Feb. 16-17 survey found registered voters giving Bush and Kerry nearly identical ratings for their sharing of voters' values, their ability to stand up to special-interest groups, and for having a clear plan to solve the country's problems. But when factoring in the percentage saying each of these qualities does not apply to each man, Kerry outshines Bush. In other words, the ratio of favorables to unfavorables is significantly higher for Kerry on these dimensions than it is for Bush.
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http://www.gallup.com/content/default.asp?ci=10780