Stakes too high to take this US election lightly: White House

Said President Obama believes that the outcome is critically important

With latest opinion polls indicating a tight presidential race between Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump and his potential Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the White House has said that the stakes are too high to take this election lightly.

"The stakes are too high to take this election lightly," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said yesterday.

Hosting a presidential election every four years means that American people have an opportunity to weigh in on who is going to lead the country and who, in fact, is going to lead the free world.

"So, the stakes of this election are high. The President (Barack Obama) believes that the outcome is critically important," Earnest said while responding to a question on some latest opinion polls which say that it is a tight race between Trump, 69, and Clinton, 68.

"Regardless of what predictions are made about the outcome at this point, the President will be fully engaged in making an argument about having a successor that's committed to building on the progress that we've made over the last seven or eight years," Earnest said.

Obama, he said, has had ample opportunities already this year to talk about how important this upcoming election is.

"In fact, the election is so important that the President expects, over the course of the summer and certainly into the fall, to be dedicating a significant portion of his time to engaging in the debate around the election.

"And the President does have a strong desire to be succeeded by someone who is committed to building on all of the important progress that we've made over the last seven or eight years. And that I think will be the nature of the President's involvement and the argument that he hopes to make," Earnest added.