More Americans ponder upcoming elections, split on more or less enthusiastic

More Americans are giving a lot of thought to the elections, but they are split on whether they are more or less enthusiastic about voting this year compared with prior election years, according to a Gallup poll issued Wednesday.

Three in four Americans now are giving "quite a lot" of thought to the elections as the primaries of the two mainstream parties for choosing their presidential nominees will end when Washington D.C. holds its primary on June 14, the poll shows, suggesting this could be a sign of a high voter turnout in the fall.

Among them, 79 percent of Republicans, including independents who lean Republican, now say they have given quite a lot of thought to the election, up from 70 percent in January. Democrats and Democratic leaners who say they are thinking about the election have increased from 63 percent in January to 72 percent currently.

However, 48 percent of voters say they are less enthusiastic than usual about voting, compared with 46 percent who say they are more enthusiastic.

Fifty-one percent of Republicans say they are more enthusiastic and 43 less enthusiastic. But for Democrats and leaners, the situation is reversed, with 43 percent more enthusiastic and 50 percent less, the poll finds.

The new survey of 1,530 adults, including 697 Democrats and 744 Republicans, was conducted between May 18 and 22, with an overall margin of error of 3 points.

During the 2008 presidential campaign that produced the highest voter-turnout percentage in 40 years, a late-May poll showed a level of interest similar to this year's, said Jim Norman, an analyst with the poll company.

In comparison, fewer than half of Americans in May 2000 were paying a lot of attention to that year's presidential election, and the turnout also reflected a lack of interest -- only 51.2 percent of eligible voters cast a ballot, the third-lowest turnout rate since 1924.

The polling comes in a tumultuous presidential election year in which celebrity businessman Donald Trump clinched the presumptive Republican nomination and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night claimed the Democratic nomination, while her rival Bernie Sanders has vowed to push toward the convention in July.

source : xinhua