Final US vote polls show very tight race with Clinton edge

[WASHINGTON] The latest polls and projections the day before Americans vote in one of the most divisive elections in US history show the race remains very close, but with Hillary Clinton slightly ahead.

The Democratic presidential candidate's lead over her Republican rival Donald Trump widened to 3.2 percentage points in an average of polls by the website RealClearPolitics.

That figure comes a day after the FBI said it had found no criminal wrongdoing in Mrs Clinton's use of a private email server following a last-minute review that had put her campaign under a cloud, enabling Mr Trump to recover ground after a series of devastating scandals.

The latest national poll, released by CBS on Monday, gave Mrs Clinton a four percentage point advantage with 45 per cent of support against Mr Trump's 41 per cent in a four-way race including Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein, who had five per cent and two per cent, respectively.

Several US media projected the likely distribution of electoral votes on Monday, also predicting a victory for the former first lady.

NBC predicted she would win 274 electoral votes compared to 170 for Mr Trump, saying polls in states holding the remaining 94 electoral votes were too close to call.

However, that would be enough for Mrs Clinton to get past the finish line of 270 electoral votes needed to win a majority.

Votes in the election are awarded indirectly, with members of the electoral college formally casting ballots according to the popular vote in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The influential news website FiveThirtyEight.com on Monday gave Mrs Clinton a 68.3 per cent chance of winning compared to 31.6 per cent for Mr Trump, based on the polls and predictions.

A Quinnipiac University survey released on Monday shows an extremely tight race in the crucial swing states of Florida and North Carolina. But it also gave Mrs Clinton the lead with 46 per cent in Florida compared to 45 per cent for Mr Trump, and 47 per cent in North Carolina against Mr Trump's 45 per cent.

AFP