probably half to two-thirds of the membership preferred the Democrats over here. McCain is not the type of figure who would have much appeal in the UK(or anywhere in Europe really, except maybe Denmark).
Which is kind of odd since McCain was invited to speak and was well received (as far as I could tell) at a Tory convention of some sort about a year ago.
I figured that McCain would have some appeal in Europe at the very least because of the perception that he's center-right and not exactly from the more extreme wing of the party.
To put things into perspective, there was a YouGov poll on which American candidate Britons preferred. Tory supporters split evenly between Obama and McCain while Labour was something like 90-10 for Obama, and the survey found no Lib Dem voters who preferred McCain (must not have polled Montgomeryshire).
Well, that suggests that he has at least some appeal within Europe, though it is mainly with conservative voters. I have a feeling that Obama's support among Tories has a lot to do with McCain's strong support for the war and the fact that even McCain is more vocal about social issues than European conservatives.
I think undoubtedly it comes down to foreign policy, and I have little doubt if this were 2000, McCain would have overwhelming support. Its just that his rightward shift in the last two years has gone over less well with Britons. Luckily for him, they can't vote, and it did get him the nomination, even if I think he could still have pulled that off with slightly less pandering than he ended up engaging in.
