President George W. Bush is more physically fit than presidential candidate John Kerry, according to a nationwide survey done by Bally Total Fitness.
The survey, which polled a random sampling of 500 American adults (34 percent classified themselves as Republicans, 31 percent as Democrats, and 35 percent as independent), found that 54 percent voted for President Bush as the most physically fit candidate versus 46 percent for Kerry. Additionally, respondents ranked John F. Kennedy as the fittest president of all time (despite his widely reported back problems).
When survey participants were asked to rank the fitness levels of all four presidential and vice presidential contenders, the majority (40 percent) still favored President Bush as the fittest of the four politicians, followed by John Edwards (31 percent) and Kerry (27 percent). Two percent cast votes for Vice President Dick Cheney as the fittest candidate--perhaps ignoring his past heart problems. When comparing the two presidential tickets, 73 percent chose the Democratic ticket as the fittest team.
Thirty-six percent of respondents said that President Kennedy was the fittest president of all time while Bill Clinton came in second with 13 percent of the vote.
If given the opportunity to play golf with any of the 2004 candidates/running mates, 46 percent of respondents would choose President Bush as their golf partner and 24 percent would choose Kerry.
If the Republican and Democratic tickets were to compete in a two-on-two basketball game, 78 percent of respondents believe that Kerry and Edwards would be victorious over Bush and Cheney.