国际英语新闻:Over half of Americans predict Obama to win re-election: poll

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- More than half of Americans believed U.S. President Barack Obama will win re-election while over a third saw Republican challenger Mitt Romney more like a winner, according to a latest Gallup poll released on Wednesday.

The poll was conducted between Oct. 27 and 28 before Superstorm Sandy hit the East Coast. The poll found that 54 percent and 34 percent of Americans thought Obama and Romney will win the 2012 presidential election respectively. The views are roughly similar to findings of previous Gallup polls in May and August, although slightly more Americans now had no opinion about who will win the close race.

Democrats are relatively more confident in their party's nominee, with 86 percent predicting an Obama victory. A total of 71 percent of Republicans predict Romney will win, while nearly a fifth of Republicans see their candidate losing to Obama. Independents predict Obama to win by 52 percent to 32 percent.

The findings in such a close race may be the result of Obama's status as the incumbent and reflects a somewhat lower level of confidence among Republicans that their candidate will win, wrote Gallup's analyst Andrew Dugan and editor-in-chief Frank Newport in their analysis.

The incumbents usually have a natural advantage in public opinion as a probable winner in a re-election bid, which had been echoed by findings of Gallup polls in 2004 and 1996.