国际英语新闻:Polls Show Very Tight US Presidential Race

“It’s going to be energizing their base," said Faulkner. "They already know who their base votes are and making sure they get out and vote. And at the moment Romney has the fervor [excitement] factor over Obama, but Obama has the ground game over Romney so that makes for a very interesting final phase.”

Several recent national polls have given Romney a slight edge, but analyst Phil Wallach says President Obama may be in a stronger position in the state-by-state tally of electoral votes that decides the winner, Wallach said.

“I think Obama is probably still the slight favorite when we look at the state by state polls. It looks like his road to 270 [electoral votes] is right now a little easier to figure out than Mitt Romney’s.”

Each state is assigned a certain number of electoral votes based on population. In all but two cases, the candidate who wins the popular vote in a given state wins all of that state’s electoral votes. There is a total of 538 electoral votes and the candidate who wins 270 or more of them is elected president.

While concern over the U.S. economy has dominated this election campaign, analyst Scot Faulkner said undecided voters in the final days will also take into account the personal qualities of both men as they make their decision.

“I think the measure of the two men," je said. "It’s the issue of, the president is in your life, in your living room, for four years and who do you want to hear for [the next] four years?  Which voice do you want to hear?  Which face do you want to see?”

About 40 of the 50 states are considered leaning toward one candidate or the other, so both campaigns are concentrating on nine swing or "battleground" states where the outcome is uncertain.  Ohio, Florida, Virginia and Colorado are among those states getting the most attention.