Poll: McCain Preferred As Commander-in-Chief

Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, would make a better commander-in-chief than either of the Democratic candidates, Sens. Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, according to the results of a new poll.

In its most recent Defense Trends study of 1,211 randomly selected adults nationwide, Washington-based research firm The Everett Group found that 51 percent of Americans say McCain would be a better commander in chief than Clinton, at 32 percent. When asked about Obama and McCain, the March 5-20 telephone survey found that 53 percent sided with McCain while 35 percent viewed the Democratic senator as a better commander-in-chief, according to an announcement of the results.

A slightly larger percentage of Democrats sided with Obama than with Clinton over McCain when it comes to who would be a better commander-in-chief of the nation's armed services, the announcement says.

"We also found evidence of a sizable gender gap," says Steve Everett, principal of the Everett Group. A majority of men back McCain, no matter which Democrat is considered. And neither Obama nor Clinton has the majority of women's support, Everett says.

The nation's veterans also tend to back McCain, himself a veteran and former prisoner of war, as a better commander-in-chief than either Obama or Clinton, the announcement says.

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