High turnout expected in U.S. presidential election

Source: Xinhua | 11-03-2008 13:16

WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 65 percent of eligible U.S. voters could turn out to vote on the Election Day, the highest turnout since 1960, according to a report released Sunday.

The Center for the Study of the American Electorate at the American University, also predicts in the report that 153.1 million of the country's eligible citizens are now registered to vote.

Among those, 135 million could turn out to vote, marking the highest ratio since 1960.

The voter registration, now at 73.5 percent -- better than the previous high of 72.1 percent in 1964 and the highest since at least 1920, when women were given the right to vote.

The center's director Curtis Gans said this is the second straight election with a significant registration increase, coming after a 3-percent boost in 2004.

He projected Democratic registration will be up 1.4 percent or 2.9 million this year, while GOP registration will be down 1.5 million.

Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia have partisan registration.

Based on information so far, the center said, Democratic registration went up significantly in Nevada, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey and Maryland.

GOP registration declined in Colorado, Florida and Pennsylvania, but rose in Nevada.

Editor:Zhang Pengfei