According to the latest Zogby poll, 52% of Americans support a military strike against Iran in order to stop it from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Also interesting is the break up of support.

Republicans, however, are much more likely to be supportive of a strike (71%), than Democrats (41%) or independents (44%). Younger likely voters are more likely than those who are older to say a strike is likely to happen before the election and women (58%) are more likely than men (48%) to say the same – but there is little difference in support for a U.S. strike against Iran among these groups.

I understand Republicans, but 41% of Democrats support a military strike against Iran? 44% of Independents?

So, that’s the good news: A majority of Americans understand the threat posed by Iran obtaining a nuke, and would support stopping it militarily. Bad news? Eh…

When asked which presidential candidate would be best equipped to deal with Iran – regardless of whether or not they expected the U.S. to attack Iran – 21% would most like to see New York U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton leading the country, while 15% would prefer former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and 14% would want Arizona U.S. Sen. John McCain in charge. Another 10% said Illinois Sen. Barack Obama would be best equipped to deal with Iran, while Republican Fred Thompson (5%), Democrat John Edwards (4%) and Republican Mitt Romney (3%) were less likely to be viewed as the best leaders to help the U.S. deal with Iran. The telephone poll of 1,028 likely voters nationwide was conducted Oct. 24-27, 2007 and carries a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.

Though, I’m pleasantly surprised that a Republican only trails Clinton by 6%. As for the breakdown of Republicans:

Giuliani is the top choice of Republicans (28%), followed by McCain (21%) and Fred Thompson (9%).

But when should a strike occur?

There is considerable division about when a strike on Iran should take place – if at all. Twenty-eight percent believe the U.S. should wait to strike until after the next president is in office while 23% would favor a strike before the end of President Bush’s term.