43% of US voters still undecided
More than four in 10 US voters are still undecided as to who they will choose in November's presidential election, polls showed today.
The Olympic Games, summer holidays and back-to-school preparations have overshadowed the US general election campaigns for many Americans and 43% of registered voters have not made a final decision about who to support, an Associated Press-Ipsos poll found.
Even Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is on a family holiday in Hawaii.
But the election momentum is expected to build again later this month when the parties' national conventions begin, first with the Democrats gathering in Denver, Colorado, on August 25, and then the Republicans in Minneapolis, Saint Paul, on September 1.
The poll showed that the 43% of registered voters who were undecided included 15% who were leaning toward Mr Obama or backing him while saying they could change their minds, and 16% who were tentatively supporting his Republican rival John McCain.
A further 8% were undecided, and 4% weakly back third-party candidates Ralph Nader or Bob Barr.
The survey also showed that more US voters were uncommitted today than at this stage in the 2004 election when the same poll showed 37% of registered voters were uncommitted.
Other polls have revealed the extent to which Americans have tuned out of the presidential race over the last few weeks.
Just three in 10 adults said they were following the campaign very closely, according to a survey conducted in early August and late July by the non-partisan Pew Research Centre.
A CBS News poll showed 18% of uncommitted voters were paying a lot of attention to the race over the last few weeks - down from the 45% who said they were in mid-July.
Meanwhile, further details of the Democratic Party's plans for its national convention were released.
Mr Obama's selection of former Virginia Governor Mark Warner to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic convention in Denver underscores an all-out effort to win the state for the first time since 1964.
Democrats consider the state the most promising as they seek victory in Southern and Western states that president George W Bush won in the last two elections.
The AP-Ipsos poll was conducted July 31 to August 4 and involved telephone interviews with 833 registered voters, for whom the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.4%.
