Voter turnout is expected to be higher in tomorrow's US presidential election than in recent elections - especially among young voters, weekend polls suggest.
The polls suggest the race is very close nationally with some polls showing President Bush and Democratic Senator John Kerry even and another showing Bush slightly ahead.
Mr Bush has a slight edge at 48 percent and Kerry at 45 per cent in a Pew Research Center poll, while several national polls released this weekend showed the race even. New polls show the candidates running even in key states such as Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota and New Hampshire.
More than eight in 10 registered voters in the Pew poll, 84 per cent, describe this election as especially important, compared with 67 pe rcent in 2000 and 61 per cent in 1996.
Pew pollster Andrew Kohut said the poll suggests turnout could be as high or slightly higher than in 1992, when it was more than 55 per cent of those eligible to vote - based on his analysis of voter enthusiasm.
The poll suggested the two candidates are running about even among early voters.
The Pew poll of 2,408 registered voters and 1,925 likely voters was taken October 27-October 30th and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
AP