WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- The incumbent US President George W. Bush enjoyed a slight lead over Democratic presidential candidate John K. Kerry, according a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Sunday.

    The Gallup 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 likelyvoters in six major battleground states the weekend before the election.

    The six major battleground states are Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Florida and Ohio.

    In Wisconsin, Bush led by eight points, while in Minnesota Kerry led by eight points.

    Bush enjoyed a lead of two points in Iowa and four points in Pennsylvania, and Kerry had leads of three points in Florida and four points in Ohio.

    The national poll, conducted Friday through Sunday, interviewed2,014 adult Americans, including 1,866 registered voters. Of those,1,573 indicated they were likely to vote, CNN said. Enditem