As the general election campaign gets started, 41% of voters nationwide say that Barack Obama is too inexperienced to be President while 30% say John McCain is too old. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that 6% of voters believe both statements are true while 24% say neither is accurate.

Forty-seven percent (47%) disagree with the assertion that Obama is too inexperienced while 64% say that McCain is not too old. On both these questions, there are significant generational differences. Senior citizens, by a two-to-one margin, reject the notion that McCain is too old. However, by a 48% to 38% margin, those over 65 say that Obama is too inexperienced.

As for voters under 30, they reject the notion that Obama is too inexperienced by a two-to-one margin. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of the youngest voters say that McCain is too old.

Both campaigns are attempting to define the other candidate early in the process. Obama has said that a vote for McCain is a vote for George W. Bush’s third term. Fifty-two percent (52%) of voters say that, if McCain is elected, his policies will be pretty much the same as those of President Bush. Thirty-two percent (32%) disagree. Seventy-six percent (76%) of Democrats agree with Obama’s assertion along with 30% of Republicans and 42% of those not affiliated with either major party.

McCain has said that Obama will offer the nation liberal, big government, solutions. Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters agree while 25% disagree and 26% are not sure. Democrats are evenly divided on this point. Thirty-six percent (36%) agree with McCain, 33% disagree, and 31% are not sure. Among unaffiliated voters, 48% agree and 24% do not.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of men say that Obama will promote big-government solutions along with 42% of women. There is no gender gap on the question of whether McCain’s policies will match Bush’s.

Perceptions of both candidates are likely to continue shifting between now and Election Day. Barack Obama begins the general election season with a modest lead over John McCain nationally in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.

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