A sizable minority of voters (43%) say that Barack Obama would be not tough enough in dealing with foreign policy and national security issues as president, the same number of voters that say Obama’s foreign policy would be about right (43%). By contrast, a narrow majority (51%) say that John McCain’s approach to security issues would be about right; only 16% say he would not be tough enough. A quarter say McCain would be too tough. The confidence in McCain’s foreign policy is reflected in the fact that while public opinion is negative on Iraq, more voters favor McCain (46%) than Obama (43%) on who is better able to make decisions about the war. Read More

Russell Heimlich  is a former web developer at Pew Research Center.