Barack Obama held the most slender of leads over Mitt Romney in final polling as the dawn of election day heralded the climax of an 18-month race for the US presidency.
After a $6bn campaign for the White House and Congress, the most expensive ever fought, the rolling average of polls by RealClearPolitics gave the incumbent an advantage of seven-tenths of a percentage point over his Republican challenger, effectively a tie. But Mr Obama had the edge in the all-important swing states whose voters will settle the contest.
By 11am eastern standard time, voting was due to have been under way in 49 of the 50 states, including New York, where authorities have laid on shuttle buses to transport voters displaced by Hurricane Sandy. Hawaii’s polls are the last to open, at noon EST.
Early legal challenges in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida and elsewhere gave an indication of how narrow the margins of victory could be. Both campaigns pulled out all the stops in “ground games” designed to get every last supporter to the polls to secure the 270 electoral college votes needed for victory.
“We have been very consistent; we have many pathways to victory through the electoral college and they are all still intact,” said David Axelrod, one of Mr Obama’s longest-standing advisers, on the sidelines of a Wisconsin rally on Monday, at which the president took to the stage alongside Bruce Springsteen.
Voters in several states cast early ballots before election day, with delays at some polling stations adding to tensions after a bitter campaign. Mr Axelrod said data from those early votes had been “very favourable” for the Democratic campaign.
In a surprise addition to his schedule, Mr Romney, who headed home to Boston late on Monday night, is to travel to Cleveland, Ohio and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Tuesday. He is expected to drop in on a phone bank and support other get-out-the-vote efforts.
Some analysts see this as a sign that the Romney campaign is feeling a sense of desperation about the possibility of losing the swing state of Ohio – although the campaign said he merely wanted to avoid sitting around waiting for results.
But Kevin Madden, a senior adviser to the former Massachusetts governor, told the Financial Times on Monday, that the Romney campaign was also taking heart from early voting in battleground states.
“We always knew this race was going to be close, but the reason the governor is going to win is because he has made the case for conservative fiscal policies and that even moderate voters see is the right path forward,” said Mr Madden.
The winner will inherit an economy undergoing a tentative recovery from the worst crisis in generations.
The political risks to the world’s biggest economy were writ large on Monday, in adverts in US newspapers taken out by investors, led by BlackRock, which warned: “America is facing an urgent crisis, barely discussed during the fall’s election campaign.”
Unless Congress reaches a deal before the new president takes office in January, $600bn in spending cuts and tax rises are due to take effect on New Year’s day, sending the US over the so-called “fiscal cliff” and potentially restarting recession.
In the first result of election day, the 10 ballots cast in Dixville Notch, in the crucial state of New Hampshire, produced no victor, with five votes each for the first African-American to occupy the White House and the first Mormon nominated to run for it.
Polls close in the first five states at 7pm EST and in Ohio, seen as the single most decisive state, 30 minutes later. Four years ago, US television networks had called the race for Mr Obama by 9.30pm. In 2000, however, 36 days passed before the Supreme Court settled the election in favour of George W. Bush.
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