I've been voting for over 20 years and I tend to vote based on policy. Whitmore may have inspired the nation through an alien invasion, but because Independence Day was all about the invasion, we never really get to see much of where Whitmore stood on the issues. We had seven years of the West Wing, however, to hear Bartlet's take.
Given this and that Bartlet's also been shown to be willing to go to war if needed, I give this to him.