Following the Democratic and Republican conventions, there is little to separate US presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain in opinion polls in America, but a new survey in Greece shows that Greek voters would overwhelmingly vote in favor of the Illinois senator.

Eight in 10 Greeks say they prefer Obama while only 5 percent would like to see McCain become the next president of the USA, according to the poll carried out for Sunday’s Kathimerini.

Obama seems to appeal to Greek voters regardless of the party they support in Greece. He is most popular with PASOK voters, 91 percent of whom say they like him, followed by 84 percent of New Democracy supporters and 77 percent of those who back the leftist parties.

McCain is most popular with the supporters of ND, 8 percent of whom back his candidacy. Only 5 percent of PASOK voters prefer McCain to Obama.

Eight in 10 Greek voters have a positive view of Obama but only 13 percent said they liked Arizona Senator McCain. Two-thirds of Greeks have a negative view of McCain whereas only 8 percent have something bad to say about Obama, who appears to have captured the Greek public’s imagination since becoming the first African American to win a party’s candidacy for the presidency.

A third of just over 1,000 people questioned by Public Issue said they believe that an Obama presidency would serve Greek interests better, as opposed to 1 percent who think McCain will be better for Greece.

However, 56 percent think that it will not make any difference for Greece whether Obama or McCain is elected to the White House.

Interestingly, exactly the same percentage of respondents feel that should Obama win the election on November 4 it will lead to a change in American foreign policy from the one followed by George W. Bush.

Three in 10 Greeks will have an additional reason to follow the countdown to the presidential election closely as they have relatives living in the USA. Only 11 percent of those questioned said they had traveled to America.