Bush, Kerry tied in Florida

2004-10-24 19:49

Miami - An opinion poll released on Sunday showed that US President George W Bush and John Kerry were in a dead heat in Florida, a state that could once more play a pivotal role in determining the outcome of the presidential race.

Both candidates got 46% of the vote, with seven percent of the voters still undecided, according to the poll conducted for the Miami Herald and the St Petersburg Times.

The support for the two candidates in Florida is exactly the same as that a Newsweek poll showed them gaining nationally.

The survey of 800 voters conducted between Tuesday and Thursday also shows the candidates could face trouble from within their own ranks, with only 82% of Democrats saying they'd vote for Kerry and 84% of Republicans planning to vote for Bush.

With both candidates running neck-and-neck, the campaigns have focused much of their energies on Florida, which carries 27 of the 270 electoral votes neeeded to win the November 2 election.

Both Bush and Kerry were stumping in the southeastern state, where a 537-vote lead secured Bush the presidency in the controversial and chaotic 2000 election.

Turnout is expected to be critical to the outcome of the race in Florida, and both campaigns have gone all-out to mobilise voters.

Tens of thousands of people already cast their ballots in early elections that started on October 18 across Florida.

Electoral officials said early voting was proceeding smoothly following a few initial glitches.

But the Miami Herald said on Sunday polling places in south Florida could be overwhelmed on election day, judging by the amount of time voters take to cast their ballots on new touch-screen machines.

The daily calculated that each machine would need to accomodate 80 voters, but that at the current pace, only 71 would be able to vote by the time polls close.

Electoral officials have urged voters to take advantage of the early voting system to ease the pressure on election day.

- SAPA