U.S Presidential Election: Obama & Romney in last-minute scramble for votes

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney go to the polls neck and neck tomorrow after a final sprint through crucial states where the result – as in the country as a whole – is too close to call.

Poll after poll over the weekend confirmed it would be one of the closest presidential elections in US history, putting the two White House contenders in a dead heat.

The pair were neck and neck in four swing states which are likely to determine the winner of the White House, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Nationally, 48 per cent said they would vote for Mr Obama and 47 per cent for Mr Romney. Given the closeness of the race, it means the result is now down to which party can ensure their supporters get to polling stations in the ten or so ‘battleground’ states.


More than 27million people have already voted in 34 states and the District of Columbia. So far, Democratic voters outnumber Republicans in Florida, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio. Republicans have the edge in only one swing state, Colorado, which Mr Obama won in 2008.

Both sides said they were confident of victory as their candidates flitted back and forth across the US trying to fit in as many target states as possible.

Despite the narrow gap separating the candidates in most polls, Mr Obama is clinging to a narrow lead in a majority of swing states. Most pundits suspect this will give him a crucial advantage tomorrow.

Attention remains focused on one battleground state above all others. According to the number crunchers, Mr Romney will find it very difficult to win the 270 votes he needs in the electoral college that decides the victor unless he carries Ohio.

But polls have shown this midwestern state, many of whose voters rely for jobs on a car industry which the President bailed out, remains in favour of Mr Obama by at least three percentage points.

More than eight in ten voters across the globe would keep Mr Obama as President if they had a say in the US elections, a major poll has found.

The MSN survey of more than 570,000 people in 36 countries found that only 19 per cent favoured Mr Romney.

The only country that preferred him was China, giving him 52 per cent of the vote. In Britain, Mr Obama took 85 per cent of the vote.