The power to inspire is essential for any leader, but it's not always enough to gain the trust and respect of the people. At the beginning of the year, 52 percent of Americans said they would prefer the 2008 presidential election winner to be "a candidate who is a tested leader but who is not that inspiring," compared to 48 percent who said it would be better to elect "a candidate who is inspiring but who has not been tested as a leader." The findings come from a Gallup poll based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 2,010 adults, ages 18 and older. Still, seven in 10 poll respondents consider it important for the U.S. president to be inspiring.
