McCain more popular among Dems, CNN poll shows

Sixty-eight percent of Democrats said they had a favorable opinion of the Republican senator, whereas 48% of independents and 46% of Republicans responded the same way.

McCain is popular overall, the poll shows, with 54% of adults answering that they had a positive view of the Arizona lawmaker.

Only 30% said their opinion of McCain was unfavorable.

McCain returned to Arizona on Sunday, where he is continuing to recover from the side-effects of chemotherapy for a brain tumor.

His return home came just before the vote on a massive Republican tax overhaul bill, which is expected to take place Tuesday.

"Senator McCain has returned to Arizona and will undergo physical therapy and rehabilitation at Mayo Clinic," McCain's office said in a statement Sunday. "He is grateful for the excellent care he continues to receive, and appreciates the outpouring of support from people all over the country. He looks forward to returning to Washington in January."

The poll was conducted by telephone December 14-17 among a random national sample of 1,001 adults. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points, it is 7.3 points for the party breakdown.