Three national polls released Tuesday agree the race is close, and all found that Republican Bush's supporters are more enthusiastic about his candidacy than Democrat Gore's are for him.

"The enthusiasm advantage has resurfaced for Bush," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. "This probably reflects Democrats not liking Gore's performance in the debate."

Bush held a big advantage on the enthusiasm factor for months leading up to the political conventions, but Gore had a successful convention and increased excitement about his effort.

Then came the first presidential debate last week, when Gore won on points but clearly irritated some voters with his style, including sighing loudly as Bush talked and interrupting to make a rhetorical point. Their second debate is scheduled for Wednesday night.

Fewer than half of Democrats in the Pew poll said they strongly support Gore while more than six in 10 Republicans said they strongly support Bush. Polls by ABC News and CBS News also suggested that Bush's backers are more fired up. All three polls suggested the head-to-head race is close -- within their margins of error.

Just under half of voters think Gore will win the election while about a third think Bush will win. But Bush's more enthusiastic backing from his own party could be significant on Election Day.

"Enthusiasm could affect turnout," Kohut said. "It could affect the extent to which voters encourage others to vote for their candidate."

Enthusiasm could be crucial in a race so close that swing voters were just as likely to tilt toward Gore as they were toward Bush, as the Pew poll suggested.

The enthusiasm shortage for Gore comes at the same time that polls suggest he has many advantages in the issues and in some key personal traits.

Bush and Gore were close on education and taxes in the polls, but Gore had a comfortable lead on issues ranging from health care to Social Security to the economy. Gore had a big lead on being personally qualified to be president in the Pew poll.

Bush was seen as more of a leader and more willing to take a stand. But there were some troubling signs for the governor of Texas.

The CBS News poll said 47 percent of voters are uneasy with Bush on the question of foreign policy, while 40 percent are comfortable. Gore's split on that question was 50 percent comfortable, 40 percent uneasy.

And the ABC News poll said four in 10 voters see Bush as caring more about serving upper income people and almost as many said all of the people. About a fifth said Gore cares more about serving the poor, and another fifth said the middle class, while four in 10 said all of the people. Only one in 10 said he cared more about serving upper income people.

The ABC News poll of 826 likely voters taken Oct. 6-9 and has an error margin of 3 percentage points. The CBS News poll of 1,178 registered voters was taken Oct. 6-9 and has an error margin of 3 percentage points. The Pew poll of 1,009 registered voters was taken Oct. 4-8 and has an error margin of 3.5 percentage points.