Even for the students who have not yet sealed their absentee ballots or punched their chads, the votes are in: an overwhelming majority of Harvard students supports John F. Kerry for president.

Seventy-three percent of eligible voters who responded to a survey conducted by The Crimson over four days this week said they would vote for Kerry if the elections were held today, while only 19 percent said they would support President George W. Bush and 3 percent said they would vote for Independent Ralph Nader.

The poll of 351 undergraduates who are eligible voters has a margin of error of 5.1 percent.

The results depict a campus that is not only overwhelmingly liberal but also deeply invested in the outcome of the election, a heightened political awareness evident in the 84 percent of respondents who said they have followed the election very or somewhat closely and the 93 percent of respondents who said they were registered to vote. Just over 82 percent said they are definitely voting, and 8 percent are likely voters.

Nationwide, the race is neck and neck. A Reuters/Zogby poll taken between Monday and Wednesday found that Bush was supported by 48 percent of likely voters and Kerry by 46. That poll had a margin of error of 2.9 percent.

David C. King, a lecturer at the Kennedy School who served as the faculty adviser to the Institute of Politics’ fall survey, said student interest in politics nationwide has not been this high since Vietnam.

“There is an intensity on college campuses that we have not seen in the last 30 years,” King said. “Across the country, this election is especially pressing.”

The IOP poll—released last week—was comprised of a random sampling of 1,202 students in 210 colleges and universities across the country, not including Harvard.

Its results show a more conservative student base across the country: 59 percent of the nation’s college students preferred Sen. Kerry, with 39 percent supporting President Bush.

Lauren K. Truesdell ’06, spokeswoman for the Harvard Republican Club (HRC), says despite the campus’ overwhelming support for Kerry, she is pleased with the efforts made by campus Republicans to support their candidate.

“Being on such a liberal campus, I think it spurs Republicans into action,” Truesdell said.

She added that though the support for Kerry was broad, she did not think it was particularly strong.

“I think people who are voting for Bush aren’t just voting for him, they’re really enthusiastic about him,” Truesdell said. “I feel like Kerry people are very anti-Bush.”

Students are also divided about which election issues are most important.

Harvard respondents put Iraq at the top of the list of issues guiding their presidential vote, with 43 percent counting it as one of the top two most important issues. That was followed by the economy, with 32 percent putting it first or second, moral values issues such as gay marriage and abortion, which 29 percent said was in the top two, and terrorism and homeland security at 28 percent.