U.S. voter turnout likely to fall short of previous two elections

U.S. voter turnout likely to fall short of previous two elections

 WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Voter turnout in the 2012 U.S. presidential election will fall short of what it was in 2004 and 2008, a pollster said Tuesday.

Registered voters reported giving less thought to the election, and were less likely to rate their chance of voting than in 2004 and 2008, two higher-turnout elections, the national pollster Gallup said.

Eighty-five percent of respondents said they gave "quite a lot of" or "some" thought to the election, which was lower than 87 percent and 90 percent in the 2008 and the 2004 elections, Gallup said.

Meanwhile, 83 percent of the respondents rated the likelihood of voting as a "10" on a 10-point scale, compared to 86 percent in 2008 and 89 percent in 2004.

However, the 2012 figures are higher than in 1996 and 2000, two lower-turnout elections, when proportionately few Americans voted.

Tracking voter turnout from Oct. 15 to Oct. 28, the poll was conducted before superstorm Sandy started battering¹ the East Coast from Monday. How would the storm affect the voter turnout remains² unclear.

Many voters in the affected³ region who have intention of voting may be unable to go to the polls on the Election Day on Nov. 6. Early voting may also be affected, though it is far less common to vote earlier in East Coast than in other parts of the country.

As this year's presidential race between President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt⁴ Romney has been a dead heat, both candidates are counting on a higher turnout of their supporters to clinch⁵ a win.

1 battering   

n.用坏，损坏v.连续猛击( batter的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The film took a battering from critics in the US. 该影片在美国遭遇到批评家的猛烈抨击。
• He kept battering away at the door. 他接连不断地砸门。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

5 clinch   

v.敲弯，钉牢；确定；扭住对方 [参]clench

参考例句：

• Clinch the boards together.用钉子把木板钉牢在一起。
• We don't accept us dollars,please Swiss francs to clinch a deal business.我方不收美元，请最好用瑞士法郎来成交生意。