A new survey has found that leadership skills, decisiveness and honesty top the list of qualities Americans most want in a US president.
in Wide-ranging opinion poll A YouGov survey released this week asked American adults to rate 40 qualities they would like in a future commander in chief.
88% of respondents said “leadership and decision-making skills are very important,” followed by “integrity” (86%) and “mental health” (85%).
Honesty, intelligence, respect for the rule of law and commitment to democracy also ranked highly in the poll.
Meanwhile, respondents ranked race, gender, wealth, marital status, geographical upbringing and parenthood as the least important characteristics.
The survey comes as former President Trump and Vice President Harris are locked in a tight race with about three months to go until the November election. A Decision Desk HQ/The Hill polling index showed Trump leading Harris by 1.2 percentage points as of Thursday, while leading Democratic candidates have narrowed Trump’s lead in several battleground states.
Harris and her campaign have repeatedly criticized Trump’s leadership and decision-making skills, portraying him as a divisive, antagonistic and disruptive figure who would be devastating if re-elected. Harris also used her experience as a former prosecutor to pursue Trump’s conviction in the New York hush-money case earlier this year, questioning the former president’s integrity and respect for the rule of law and accusing him of threatening the nation’s democracy.
Meanwhile, President Trump has attacked Harris’ biracial identity in recent days, as several Republicans have accused her of being a “DEI recruit” and that President Biden chose her as his running mate solely on race in 2020. Republicans have also criticized Harris for a lack of leadership amid the border crisis after she was nominated by the Biden administration to address the root causes of migration from Central America.
Harris entered the White House race just two weeks ago after President Biden dropped out of the race amid questions within her party about her mental health and health. The Democratic front-runner has moved quickly to solidify endorsements and raise significant amounts of money to run a competitive general election campaign on an accelerated timeline.
The YouGov poll was conducted among 2,266 U.S. adults in two waves, July 25-27 and July 26-29. The sample’s margin of error is approximately 3 percentage points.
