Gallup Poll: How candidates do on issues

[Adelante]

PRINCETON, NJ -- Sen. Hillary Clinton, who currently leads the Democratic race for the 2008 presidential nomination by more than 20 percentage points in a USA Today/Gallup poll, is also chosen by Democrats (including Democratic-leaning independents) as the candidate best able to handle many national issues. In fact, according to the latest Gallup Panel survey, Democrats perceive Clinton as the best prepared of the top three Democratic contenders to handle 13 of 17 different challenges that could face the next president.

While Clinton dominates on core policy issues, Sen. Barack Obama does relatively well on the handful of items included that tap into the candidates' ability to relate to people and heal divisions in the country. Democrats do not consider former Sen. John Edwards the best candidate on any issue.

Clinton Walks Away With Top Policy Issues

When given the choice of the top three Democratic candidates -- including Clinton, Obama, and Edwards -- an outright majority of Democrats say Clinton would do the best job on 6 out of 17 issues measured in the poll. This includes some of the major domestic policy issues that Americans typically rate among the most important to their vote for federal offices: healthcare, the economy, and education. It also includes two of the leading values issues in today's culture: abortion and gay marriage.

Read the full poll results here:

http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=28897

[rinsd]

1. It would appear that Clinton may have won the foreign policy fight with Obama

[Adelante]

3. Is that from this same poll, rinsd? nt

[Cameron27]

2. This is interesting:

"The fact that Edwards receives his highest rating on the commander-in-chief dimension could say more about what Democrats think of Clinton and Obama on this issue, than what they think of Edwards.

Why?

1. Clinton could be underperforming on the commander-in-chief item because she is a woman. This is suggested by the fact that she is much more widely chosen for "handling relations with other countries" than for being "commander-in-chief of the military": 54% vs. 38%.

2. Obama may not be the perfect commander-in-chief alternative to Clinton for the Democrats. He went on record this summer saying that, as president, he would consider a unilateral invasion of Pakistan to root out terrorists, and promised to engage in diplomacy talks with the leaders of nations hostile to the United States. This earned Obama considerable criticism from his Democratic rivals, and may explain Clinton's expanded lead in Gallup's trial heat polls in the past two months. (See "Clinton Bounds Further Ahead in Democratic Contest" in Related Items.)

3. Indeed, the percentage choosing Obama as best able to handle relations with other countries fell by five points between January 2007 and today."


I'm surprised that Clinton has such strong numbers across the board. Good for her.