GOTV and voter enthusiasm is the game; new registrations are down in swing states:

A Guardian survey of six of the most crucial swing states upon which the outcome of the presidential ballot is likely to depend has found that new voter registrations recorded between January and August this year are markedly down compared with the same period in 2008. The drop is particularly pronounced in several states for the Democrats – a likely indication that Barack Obama's re-election team has been unable to match the exceptional levels of voter excitement generated by his candidacy four years ago.

The six states included in the Guardian survey – Colorado, Iowa, Florida, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia – are all being bitterly fought over by Obama and his challenger Mitt Romney. Backed by their respective Democratic and Republican parties, both candidates have sought to maximise turnout by running registration drives in an attempt to attract new voters to their cause.

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Voter registration slumps amid lack of enthusiasm for Obama and Romney
By Amanda Michel, Ed Pilkington and Alexander Hotz, guardian.co.uk, 2 October 2012

Guardian survey reveals marked drop compared to 2008 as Democrats attack GOP for trying to suppress minority voter

Oct. 2: Good News for Romney in National Polls, and Obama in Pennsylvania
By Nate Silver, New York Times

There were signs of tightening toward Mitt Romney in the national polls, but they were harder to discern in state surveys, which remained strong for President Obama.