Democrats looking forward to biggest majority in decades

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The final pre-election poll by Gallup put Democrats ahead in Congress by a 12 percentage point lead among likely voters, or 53 per cent to 41 per cent.

It puts the party in a position to make huge gains in both houses and would mean that if Barack Obama is in the White House his legislative programme would be almost guaranteed to be passed without opposition.

In the Senate, the upper house, 35 of its 100 seats are in contention.

If the Democrats can pick up nine seats a long shot that would require unexpected victories in the traditionally conservative South it would strengthen their majority from a slim 51-49 to a nearly unbeatable 60-40.

Winning 60 seats or more would be a major boon to the Democrats because it would make it nearly impossible for the opposition Republicans to use a filibuster to kill legislation.

A filibuster, a procedural way to extend debate indefinitely and keep a proposal from coming to a vote, can be cut off in the Senate with a supermajority of 60 votes.

The Democrats have especially targeted seats in Colorado, Idaho, Nebraska, New Mexico and Virginia, where Republicans have chosen not to run again.

Some other Republican senators are also at risk. In Alaska, Republican Ted Stevens, who has been in the Senate for 40 years, faces a tough re-election fight from Democrat Mark Begich since his conviction last week on charges he accepted favours from a contractor.

In the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, all 435 seats are up for election. Republicans hold 199 seats, the Democrats, 235. One seat is vacant because of a death.

The Democrats are spending three times as much as the Republicans this year and are expected to add at least a dozen seats in today's voting. They could even pick up 25 to 30 seats depending on the strength of the surge.

Democrats have pledged to withdraw US troops from Bush's Iraq war, roll back Bush's tax cuts for the rich and move to end the economic crisis.

Democrats have controlled Congress since 2006 but Republicans have blocked their agenda, from healthcare to troop withdrawal, with Senate filibusters.