By SPA,
Washington : More than four in 10 U.S. voters are still unsure of which presidential candidate they favor, three months before polls open in November, according to a new poll.
Forty-three percent of registered voters have not made final decisions on whom to support, according to the Associated Press-Ipsos poll. The figure includes 15 percent who leaning towards Democratic Senator Barack Obama or say they support him but could change their minds. Another 16 percent say they generally favor McCain, 4 percent favor third-party candidates Ralph Nader or Bob Barr.
Completely undecided voters make up about 8 percent.
The figures show slightly more indecision than in the last presidential election in 2004, when an AP-Ipsos poll at the same stage in the race showed 37 percent of voters unsure of who they would support.
Undecided voters, according to the poll, were more likely to be negative about the direction the country is going, with fewer than one in eight saying the U.S. is heading in the right direction. They also are likelier to be white and male and to consider themselves moderates and independents than those firmly committed to candidates, AP said.
Their indecision could also be the result of an acknowledged lack of interest by many in American. A July/August poll conducted by the non-partisan Pew Research Center found that only three in 10 adults said they are following the campaign very closely.
In a poll early this month by CBS News, just 18 percent of uncommitted voters said they paid a lot of attention to the race over the last few weeks — down from the 45 percent who said they were in mid-July.