(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Barack Obama would defeat John McCain if Malaysians had a say in the United States presidential election, according to a poll by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research. 43 per cent of respondents would vote for the Democratic nominee if they could, while only six per cent would support the Republican contender.

Obama became the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee on Aug. 28, while McCain accepted the Republican Party’s nomination on Sept. 4.

U.S. president George W. Bush is ineligible for a third term in office. The U.S. presidential election is scheduled for Nov. 4.

Earlier this month, political commentator John Gee suggested that one of the reasons why Obama is more popular than McCain amongst south-east Asians is that Obama favours dialogue over military action against Iran to curb its nuclear capabilities. Gee noted: "As a July 17 editorial in Singapore’s Business Times commented, ‘Let there be no mistake: if war does break out, it will have an impact on the balance of power in the Middle East, affect the outcome of the U.S. presidential elections, determine the international energy prices for months or even years to come, and thereby push the U.S. and global economies into a horrendous crisis. The world hopes that cool heads will prevail’."

Polling Data

The American presidential election is coming soon. If given the chance, who would you vote for as president of the USA?

Source: Merdeka Center for Opinion Research
Methodology: Telephone Interviews with 1,030 Malaysian voters, conducted Sept. 11 to Sept. 22, 2008. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.

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