Hillary,Obama and Edwards Most Americans want their next president to be strong, decisive and of good moral character, but fewer seem to care if he or she has been unfaithful to their spouse, or even tried drugs. A Gallup poll released on Thursday showed that while Republicans and Democrats are essentially looking for the same qualities in the next president of the United States, they differ on some important issues. Some 77 percent of the 1,006 people polled across the country said the next president must be a strong and decisive leader, although only 34 percent said the next incumbent must have experience of government. But where the two camps divided was on personal qualities. Only 37 percent in total said it was "absolutely essential" that the next US leader has been a faithful spouse -- but broken down along party lines the figure was 52 percent among Republicans and only 25 percent among Democrats. Gallup said this was the "starkest partisan gap" in the poll carried out late last month and "may stem from opposing partisan perspectives on the marital foibles of former president Bill Clinton." As for the thorny issue of drugs, voters showed themselves to be more tolerant with a total of 19 percent saying the next president should be someone who has never tried drugs -- 22 percent among Republicans and 17 percent among Democrats. Around a third of those polled said the next president had to be honest and straightforward, making it the top of the five most desirable personal qualities in the country's leader. But Republicans also cited integrity and good moral character, while Democrats preferred that he or she should listen to the people and not lobbyists, and focus on domestic issues rather than foreign policy. "Democrats have a greater interest than Republicans in wanting a president who will consider public opinion when making decisions," the poll said. 點擊查看更多雙語新聞 (AP)

大多數美國民眾期望他們的下任總統堅強、果斷，并具有良好的道德品質，但在意他（她）對伴侶是否忠誠或是否吸過毒的人相對較少。 上周四公布的一項蓋洛普調查顯示，雖然共和黨人和民主黨人在對美國下任總統品質的期望上基本一致，但他們在一些重要問題上存在分歧。 在全美1006名受訪民眾中，約77%的人說美國的下任總統必須是一個堅決果斷的領導人，而僅有34%的人認為下任總統應該具有政府工作的經歷。 但在下任總統的個人品質問題上，兩大陣營的觀點存在分歧。僅37%的受訪民眾認為下任總統對伴侶忠誠是“最基本”的品質，但如果從各黨派的分配來看，共和黨內持此觀點的占52%，民主黨內為25%。 據蓋洛普公司介紹，這一結果在此項于上月末開展的調查中是“兩黨最為鮮明的分歧點”，而且這“可能源于兩黨對待前總統克林頓緋聞事件的不同態度”。 民眾對于下任總統是否服用過毒品的問題更為寬容，共19%的受訪民眾稱下任總統不應有吸毒歷史，持此觀點的共和黨人占22%，民主黨人為17%。 約三分之一的受訪者認為下任總統應該誠實坦率，這在五大最被期待的總統個人品質中名列首位。 但共和黨人還希望下任總統正直、并具有良好的道德品質，而民主黨人則認為他（她）應該傾聽人民的聲音，而不是說客，并希望他（她）能把重心放在國內事務而不是外交政策上。 調查表明，“民主黨人比共和黨人更加希望下屆總統在決策時能夠多傾聽公眾意見?！?/P> （英語點津姍姍編輯）