Obamas and McCains polls apart

Source: Agencies  |   2008-7-3  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

AMERICAN people would rather barbecue burgers with Barack Obama than with John McCain.

While many are still deciding who should be American president, by 52 percent to 45 percent they would prefer having Obama than McCain to their summer cookout, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released yesterday.

Men are about evenly divided between the two, while women prefer Obama by 11 percentage points. Whites prefer McCain, minorities Obama. And Obama is a more popular guest with young voters while McCain wins the old vote.

Having Obama to a barbecue would be like a relaxed family gathering, while inviting McCain "would be more like a retirement party than something fun," said Wesley Welbourne, 38, a systems engineer from Washington, DC.

Party label means a lot, with three-quarters of Democrats picking the Democrat Obama and the same number of Republicans picking McCain, a Republican. Independents are about evenly split.

One in six people saying they'd vote for McCain prefer Obama as their barbecue guest; just one in 20 Obama backers would invite McCain.

The survey of 1,759 adults was conducted online by Knowledge Networks from June 13-23. Its first-lady poll proved inconclusive.

The public hasn't taken to Michelle Obama yet, especially whites. And it's got a question about Cindy McCain: Just who is she?

People are divided over whether they like Michelle Obama, with 30 percent seeing her favorably and 35 percent unfavorably.

They tilt positively toward Cindy McCain by 27 to 17 percent.

In other words: While the two women are about equally liked, Michelle is twice as disliked as Cindy.

"Cindy seems like she's laid back and not trying to run her husband," said Linda Kaiser, 60, a Republican church secretary of Pennsylvania.

Whites have an unfavorable view of Michelle by 18 percentage points, while eight in 10 blacks like her. Whites saw Cindy positively by 17 points, while one in eight blacks like her.