VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - With the U.S. Presidential election right around the corner, conscientious voters across America are doing their best to make an informed decision about who should lead our country for the next four years. But, what do we or should we consider when selecting a president?

A recent survey conducted by Dr. Dail Fields and Dr. Mihai Bocarnea of Regent's School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship explored voters' perceptions of the critical leadership characteristics people associate with Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama.

To date, more than 680 participants have used a five-point scale to rate McCain and Obama on 30 leadership attributes, which were drawn from the leadership characteristics most universally used by people in more than 60 countries to describe positive and negative aspects of leaders by the GLOBE project, a long-term study of the similarities and differences in how people view and evaluate leaders around the world.

Ninety-five percent of the participants are registered voters who describe their party affiliation as Republican (45%), Democrat (24%) and Independent (31%). Respondents also represent 47 states and 14 countries. Of the U.S. respondents, 92% voted in the last presidential election.

Based on the results thus far, perceptions of McCain are dominated by his honesty, dependability, decisiveness and trustworthiness, while Obama is seen as more motivational, visionary, charismatic and dynamic.

Across all participants, McCain was rated highest on the attributes of purposeful, decisive, intelligent and informed, while Obama was rated highest on the attributes of charismatic, intelligent, dynamic and communicative.

Comparative ratings of the candidates followed party lines. However, on average, Republicans rated Obama as more charismatic and dynamic than McCain, while Independents saw McCain as substantially more decisive and honest.

The survey notes that groups who rate Obama more favorably than McCain on most attributes, still see McCain as more decisive, dependable and trustworthy. On the flip side, groups that rate McCain more favorably on most attributes still see Obama as more charismatic and dynamic.

Both Fields and Bocarnea believe their survey results are consistent with other research indicating that party affiliation is key in determining voter preference. With Independents, however, the candidate's ratings were very close. Therefore, their actual vote on Election Day could go either way.

Despite all of the research, polls and pundits, it is what the voters actually do on November 4 that will ultimately determine their presidential preference and whether or not their choice aligns with their perceptions of leadership.

The survey will remain open until the election on November 4. Those who wish to participate in the survey can go to: http://intercom.virginia.edu/SurveySuite/Surveys/candidates2008/

>>View current survey results.

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About the School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship

The School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship (GLE) is one of seven graduate schools within Regent University and is located in Virginia Beach, Va. Offering fully-accredited master's and doctoral degrees in a flexible online format, GLE provides rigorous, yet innovative academic programs that can accommodate even the busiest professionals. For more information, visit www.regent.edu/global.