• ATOUGHGUY_P1
• csmli-1
• stem-1

• ATOUGHGUY_P2
• csmli-2
• stem-2

For voters, 'tough' now trumps 'nice'

The front-runners for each party's nomination are also perceived by voters as the 'toughest' in their lineups.

By Linda Feldmann | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the September 28, 2007 edition

Page 1 of 2

Washington - Going into Wednesday night's Democratic presidential debate, the big question was whether Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois would get tough on the front-runner for his party's nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

The reviews are in: He did not.

Moderator Tim Russert practically invited the freshman senator to go after the former first lady, asking Mr. Obama if he is referring to "the Bushes, the Clintons, or both" when he goes around the country saying "it's time to turn the page."

Obama left Mrs. Clinton (and her husband, the former president) out of the answer. Instead, he talked generically about how it's time to end "divisive politics" and work together to solve problems. Score another point for Obama in the Mr. Nice Guy column.

But is that smart politics for the 2008 presidential cycle? Polls suggest it may not be. While historically, Americans have usually preferred the more likable candidate for president, this time around, the coin of the realm appears to be toughness.

In a recent Pew Research Center poll, Democrats overwhelmingly associated Clinton with the word "tough;" she beat Obama on that quality 67 percent to 14 percent. On most other qualities tested – "energetic," "down-to-earth," "even-tempered," "optimistic," "honest," and "friendly" – Obama came out on top.

On the Republican side, voters displayed less consensus on which of their candidates is toughest. The front-runner in national polls, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, came out on top with a 39 percent plurality of GOP voters. The next "toughest" Republican candidate was Sen. John McCain of Arizona, with 26 percent. Former senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee came in third, at 18 percent.

But there's no doubt that, in a time of war, voters weight candidates' personal qualities differently, analysts say.

"Toughness counts for more than likability," says Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont-McKenna College in Claremont, Calif. "And that's one advantage for Hillary Clinton. If you're a Democrat, even if you don't like her, you acknowledge that she's tough – kind of like a liberal Democratic doppelganger of [former British Prime Minister] Margaret Thatcher."

Another aspect of "tough" that may also be playing into voters' calculations is how the candidates do battle against one another – and, in particular, how the two major-party nominees will wage their general-election campaigns next year.

Page 1 | 2 | Next Page