WASHINGTON, Nov 5: Americans headed to polling stations on Tuesday to cast their votes in a midterm election that will have far-reaching effects not only for the United States but also for the rest of the world.
If the election gives Republicans control over both the Senate and the House of Representatives, President George W. Bush will find it easier to go ahead with his plan to attack Iraq.
And if Democrats, who controlled the Senate until the death of one of their Senators earlier this month, also get a majority in the House of Representatives, the U.S. military offensive against Iraq may further be delayed.
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 34 of 100 Senate seats and 36 state governorships are at stake. The tight races have had President Bush campaigning through 15 states in five days, followed closely by former President Bill Clinton and Al Gore, who want to avenge Gore’s technical defeat in the presidential election two years ago.
After an intense final bout of campaigning, Republicans and Democrats wrapped up their crusade with no clear indication that either party would come away with an advantage.
And a recent survey shows that American voters were focused on local concerns, not national and international issue like terrorism or the possibility of a war with Iraq.
Bush, Clinton and other senior politicians mounted a final push Monday night to encourage voter turnout, which is expected to be low.
On a marathon day that began in Iowa, and ended in his home state of Texas, Bush pursued his quest to erase the Democrats’ one-seat majority in the Senate, which has stymied much of his agenda this year and will shape what he can accomplish before his own expected 2004 re-election campaign.
A new poll asked voters which issues were most important in deciding their vote for Congress. Economic issues such as the recession, jobs, taxes and the budget deficit were twice as important for the voters as foreign policy issues like Iraq, terrorism and national security, according to the poll taken by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
In the Pew poll, 29 percent said their vote for Congress was in effect a vote for the president, 16 percent said it was a vote against him and 49 percent said that was not a factor.