Poll: People prefer Obama over McCain as teacher

By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — If this election were about which candidate people wanted as their child's schoolteacher, Barack Obama would be moving to the head of the class. They'd also rather watch a football game with him, but only by inches.

People picked the Democrat over Republican John McCain to catch a game with by 50 percent to 47 percent, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo! News poll released Friday. Asked which they'd choose to be their child's teacher, Obama was the choice by a more decisive 55 percent to 44 percent, including a markedly stronger performance by the Illinois senator among whites.

Win or lose the November presidential election, neither man is likely to be teaching schoolchildren anytime soon, let alone plopping down on your couch for a game. Nonetheless, the responses provide some insight into how the two candidates are viewed as people — an important consideration for many when it comes to voting.

Those questioned generally said that for viewing a football game, they were looking for someone they would feel comfortable spending time with. For a teacher, they often described a more complex process measuring a candidate's life experience, communications skills and tolerance of different viewpoints.

"I think Obama has a little more of an open mind, maybe because he's a black man and has that history behind him, the prejudices of life," said Chris Porter, 45, an Obama supporter from Kenosha, Wis. "I think that's something very important for children to understand."

Obama has been a teacher, having worked as a law professor at the University of Chicago.

Larry Killen, 54, a McCain backer from Sugar Hill, Ga., cited how the Republican bounced back from his captivity during the Vietnam War.

"I see him as a more grounded person with a much deeper range of experience," said Killen, a software designer. "It's fascinating what he's endured," he said, adding that influencing others comes "more from the person you are than the things you do."

Whites — who have favored McCain throughout the campaign season — would rather watch football with the Arizona senator by 55 percent to 43 percent. He was also the choice to be their child's teacher, but by a narrower 51 percent to 47 percent.

The 16-percentage-point preference white men had for McCain as a football companion was about halved when it came to choosing a teacher. White women moved from picking McCain for football by 7 points to favoring Obama as teacher by 2 points — in effect a tie.

Just as strikingly, white college graduates had an 8-point preference for watching football with McCain but preferred Obama as a teacher by 7 points. Whites without college degrees chose McCain for football by 12 points, and by a slightly smaller margin to be a teacher.

Independents preferred McCain for football by 10 points but were evenly divided over which would be the better teacher. For both categories, fewer than one in 10 Obama voters chose McCain, while nearly one in five McCain supporters opted for Obama.

"He seems intensely focused in a way I'm not sure he does sit down and relax," McCain supporter Lanita Linch, 41, of Harrison, Ark., said of the Republican. She said she'd rather watch football with Obama because he seemed like "someone you could be comfortable and at ease with."

In promising news for Obama, he was the choice of undecided voters and those who say they might switch candidates, narrowly as a football companion but by 18 points as a teacher.

McCain was picked for both activities by about a third of those who earlier this year supported vanquished Democratic contender Hillary Rodham Clinton, a group Obama has struggled to win over. That's better than McCain did with Democrats overall, less than a quarter of whom opted for him for either teaching or football.

Married people in the survey who have children were about evenly divided between the two rivals on both questions.

The poll of 1,740 adults was conducted Sept. 5-15 and has an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. It was conducted over the Internet by Knowledge Networks, which initially contacted people using traditional telephone polling methods and followed with online interviews.

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AP Director of Surveys Trevor Tompson and AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

Polling site: http://news.yahoo.com/polls