Presidential election - US poll very important for us all

Just over three million Irish people are eligible to vote in next Saturday’s children’s referendum.

Almost 100 times that number are entitled to cast their ballots today in the vote to elect the 44th president of the United States. Both events are significant to the Irish nation but, in some respects, the American election is more important to us.

Anyone who thinks of the US presidential election as just another soap opera with fancy frocks and Hollywood smiles should think again. Whoever becomes the next US president will matter not just to Americans but to the world at large.