A US presidential election opinion poll has been published that shows 47 per cent of Americans are concerned that John McCain wouldn’t be able to complete a full four-year presidential term because of his health.

The research, conducted by CNN and Opinion Research Corp, suggests that McCain’s age could be a big factor in people not voting for the Republican candidate in next month’s US elections.

Twenty-nine per cent of respondents in the poll said they were “very concerned” that McCain could have to step down because of his health, while another 18 per cent said they were “somewhat concerned”.

In contrast only eight per cent of respondents said they were “very concerned” that Barack Obama might not get through the next four years in good enough health to run the country, and 11 per cent said they were “somewhat concerned”.

The numbers would perhaps be lower but for Obama being a cigarette smoker (he claims to have given up in 2007, but has admitted to smoking since). John McCain gave up smoking in 1980.

McCain, a 72-year-old skin cancer survivor, has taken the unprecedented step of letting journalists have full access to his medical records to try and persuade the American public that he won’t become the first president of the USA to die of natural causes while in office since Warren G Harding in 1923.

Were this to happen, his vice-president – which, if McCain wins the November election, would be Alaska governor Sarah Palin – would become the US president.

Bookie William Hill, which is taking bets on the American election, has made Palin favourite to be the first female president of the USA. Clearly a lot of Americans might fancy that bet.

Posted in US Election News