Polls show Bush ahead by whisker

President George W. Bush holds a slight edge in opinion polls over challenger Senator John Kerry as early voting in the US election starts today in the key state of Florida.

New polls show the race to be very close, though the President appears to have a slight edge among likely voters.

A poll for Time magazine put the incumbent on 48 points and Mr Kerry on 46, one for Newsweek scored it 50-45 in favour of Mr Bush and a Washington Post poll also gave the President a lead, scoring it 50-47.

A poll by Zogby for Reuters suggested the Democratic contender was closing on Mr Bush, scoring them 44-46 respectively.

But in key battleground states, the surveys suggested Mr Kerry had a significant lead.

A new Washington Post poll found Mr Kerry held a 53 per cent to 43 per cent advantage among likely voters in 13 such states.

But in Florida, the Post poll released yesterday showed Mr Kerry and Mr Bush tied among likely voters, with 48 per cent each.

Independent Ralph Nader was at 1 per cent, slightly less statewide than what he got four years ago, when his vote probably cost Democrat Al Gore the state.

Though Mr Gore won the popular vote nationwide, a 36-day recount in Florida was halted by the US Supreme Court in Washington, awarding the electoral college votes and the presidency to Mr Bush.

Early voting was introduced in Florida after the 2000 election.

This year, Florida already has had legal skirmishes, dealing with the purging of a high percentage of black felons from voter lists, requests for a paper confirmation of touch-screen voting, and whether voters who show up at the wrong polling place will receive a ballot.

Mr Bush's brother, Governor Jeb Bush, said Florida had "done everything we can" to make it easy for people to vote.

- REUTERS