Any predictions up the poll

WASHINGTON - Final polls have given President George W. Bush a one-point national lead on John Kerry, and the White House rivals were deadlocked in the key state of Florida.

In the last Reuters/Zogby polls before voting began, Bush led Kerry 48-47 per cent in the three-day national tracking survey, well within the margin of error.

The two were deadlocked at 48 per cent on Monday.

"Each candidate continues to do well among his base constituency," said pollster John Zogby. Only 3 per cent of voters remain undecided.

Kerry led in six states won in 2000 by his Democrat predecessor, Al Gore - Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - and Bush led in Colorado, Nevada and Ohio, which he won in 2000.

If the other poll results hold, the race for the White House will once again hinge on the outcome in Florida, where Bush's brother Jeb is the governor.

A flurry of other state polls have provided contradictory results and made confident predictions of the outcome nearly impossible.

The national poll found Kerry was favoured by young voters - those aged between 18 and 29 - by 64 to 35 per cent, but the size of the turnout in that voting bloc is one of the biggest unknowns.

Kerry had a 54-40 per cent edge among newly registered voters, another unpredictable group that could be a wild card today depending on how many actually vote.

At this stage of the disputed 2000 election, Bush led Gore by one point in the daily tracking poll.

The poll of 1208 likely voters was taken on Saturday through to Monday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

The national poll showed independent candidate Ralph Nader, blamed by some Democrats for drawing enough votes from Gore to cost him the election in 2000, with 1.2 per cent.

- REUTERS