New voters may swing it for Obama

Democrats are hopeful that a boom in voter registration across the United States could result in a landslide victory for their presidential candidate Barack Obama. An overwhelming majority of the nine million new voters are believed to favour Obama. Crucially, Democrats have out-registered Republicans by large ratios in eight swing states that could decide the election.

Many of the new registrants are under 30 or African American. While historically the turn out for both groups has been significantly lower, the Democrats are confident that they will show up to cast their vote on November 4. If they do, Obama could capture Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Iowa, Florida and North Carolina.

North Carolina has seen the largest transformation in registration. In the swing state, which has a large African American community, new Democrats outnumber new Republicans by six to one.