Hillary,Obama and Edward

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 nextincumbent 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.

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      大多数美国民众期望他们的下任总统坚强、果断，并具有良好的道德品质，但在意他（她）对伴侣是否忠诚或是否吸过毒的人相对较少。

    上周四公布的一项盖洛普调查显示，虽然共和党人和民主党人在对美国下任总统品质的期望上基本一致，但他们在一些重要问题上存在分歧。

    在全美1006名受访民众中，约77%的人说美国的下任总统必须是一个坚决果断的领导人，而仅有34%的人认为下任总统应该具有政府工作的经历。

    但在下任总统的个人品质问题上，两大阵营的观点存在分歧。仅37%的受访民众认为下任总统对伴侣忠诚是“最基本”的品质，但如果从各党派的分配来看，共和党内持此观点的占52%，民主党内为25%。

    据盖洛普公司介绍，这一结果在此项于上月末开展的调查中是“两党最为鲜明的分歧点”，而且这“可能源于两党对待前总统克林顿绯闻事件的不同态度”。

    民众对于下任总统是否服用过毒品的问题更为宽容，共19%的受访民众称下任总统不应有吸毒历史，持此观点的共和党人占22%，民主党人为17%。

    约三分之一的受访者认为下任总统应该诚实坦率，这在五大最被期待的总统个人品质中名列首位。

    但共和党人还希望下任总统正直、并具有良好的道德品质，而民主党人则认为他（她）应该倾听人民的声音，而不是说客，并希望他（她）能把重心放在国内事务而不是外交政策上。

    调查表明，“民主党人比共和党人更加希望下届总统在决策时能够多倾听公众意见。”