The number: 49% — Risky business

While John McCain is clearly seen as a well-qualified candidate for president by registered voters (72% say McCain is well-qualified while 53% say Barack Obama is), the term "risky" is applied as often to him as it is to Obama (49% of voters apply the term to each candidate). About the same number of independents describe McCain and Obama as risky (53% and 51%, respectively.) In September, 55% of independents described Obama as risky while just 44% said this about McCain.

Source: Pew Research Center

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