Will Obama win in November? Wide gap between preference and prediction. (Washington Post FUD)

National polling suggests that the American public is deeply divided about who it wants to be the next president of the United States.

A Washington Post-ABC News survey released last week showed President Obama at 49 percent to 48 percent for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney among likely voters. A New York Times-CBS News poll released around the same time put Obama at 49 percent to Romney’s 46 percent, among those most likely to vote.

But, if the pool of likely voters is almost evenly split on who should occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in January, they are far less indecisive on who they think will be the next president.

Nearly six in 10 (59 percent) registered voters in a late August Post-ABC poll said they believed Obama would win, while just 34 percent chose Romney even as the head-to-head vote in that same poll stood at 47 percent for Romney and 46 percent for Obama among registered voters.