Gallup released an 8-dimension “character comparison” of the three presidential candidates today, showing John McCain lagging among voters when asked about his “clear plan for solving the country’s problems.” Only 33 percent of adults polled responded positively when asked if McCain had a clear plan, down from 42 percent in March and compared unfavorably with 40 percent for Barack Obama and 47 percent for Hillary Rodham Clinton.

But the rest of the poll was more upbeat for the presumed Republican nominee. It also concludes that McCain’s perceived character strengths lie in his persona of a “strong and decisive leader” and being “honest and trustworthy.” In fact, he only falls below 50 percent of positive repsonses for “shares your values” and “has a clear plan.” Clinton, on the other hand, falls below 50 percent for four different characteristics, including her lowest ‘ “is honest and trustworthy” at 37 percent ‘ but is close behind McCain when viewed as a “strong and decisive leader.” Barack Obama rates highly for “understanding the problems Americans face in their daily lives” and “caring about the needs of people like you,” but, like McCain, sees his lowest positive score come in for “has a clear plan for solving the country’s problems.”

The margin of error for the 1,016 interviews, conducted April 18-20, is ‘3 percentage points.