American voters went to the polls Tuesday to elect a new president -- the chief executive of the US government and the commander-in-chief of the US military.
According to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Sunday, the incumbent President George W. Bush enjoyed a slight lead over Democratic presidential candidate John K. Kerry. The poll indicated that 49 percent of likely voters polled chose Bush, with 47 percent taking sides with Kerry.
This was a virtual tie given the margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, CNN reported.
Meanwhile, Bush and Kerry were almost evenly split among likely voters in six major battleground states the weekend before the election -- Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio.
The following is the profile of George W. Bush, the Republican incumbent president seeking re-election:
On July 6, 1946, Bush was born in New Haven, Connecticut, but the family soon moved to Texas which he now considers his home.
After receiving a bachelor's degree at Yale University in 1968, Bush served in the Texas Air National Guard for five years while tens of thousands of people of his age, Democratic presidential contender John Kerry included, fought in Vietnam.
His service in the National Guard came to the forefront during the 2000 campaign and back again during this campaign. Critics accused him of favoritism, saying his father, former US President George H.W. Bush, had pulled strings to help him shun the military duty in Vietnam.
But polls showed that voters this time say they would focus more on his performance at the White House than his experience more than 30 years ago.
After the guard service, Bush received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1975. After graduating, he returned to Texas and began a career in energy business. With a group of other investors, he purchased the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in 1989 and served as general managing partner.
Bush started his first bid for office in 1978, but lost to the incumbent in a congressional race. In 1994, he returned to politics and was elected governor of Texas, a position he held for six years.
After a bitter battle of vote recounting in Florida which lasted more than one month, Bush was sent to the White House in the 2000 election by a 5-4 Supreme Court decision.
In the first months of office, Bush stunned the world by carrying out a series of unilateral policies. Washington refused to ratify or even withdrew from international treaties on issues such as nuclear test ban, biological weapons control, missile defense, global warming and the International Criminal Court.
The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks boosted Bush's approval rating and offered him a golden opportunity to cast himself as a strong leader and firm commander-in-chief. Bush launched a military strike in Afghanistan soon after the Sept. 11 attacks. In March 2003, he ordered a US-led invasion of Iraq despite the lack of international and UN support.
Realizing that he does not have advantage on domestic issues such as social security, health care and economy, Bush has successfully made Iraq and terrorism the center issues of this campaign. Polls have consistently showed voters giving Bush higher points over Kerry on Iraq and terrorism.