(CNN) Americans won't go to the polls to choose who they want to be president for about 18 months. But bipartisan enthusiasm for the 2020 vote is so high that it's comparable to the days before the last time they cast a presidential ballot.

In a new poll by Fox News released Thursday, more than half of voters said they were extremely interested in the 2020 presidential election (52%). That's about equivalent to the 54% who said the same thing in the final days of the 2016 campaign.

Election excitement was strong in both parties, with 57% of Republicans and 56% of Democrats who expressed strong interest.

The 54% who said they were extremely interested in the election in 2016 was the highest percentage who had ever said so since Fox began tracking the question in 2011. CNN's March survey found enthusiasm among registered voters above 2016 enthusiasm and about on par with the level seen in the final days of the 2008 campaign.

It's hard to say, at this point in the campaign's early days, what this means for the 2020 presidential race. Despite the level of voter interest in 2016, the turnout in that election was similar to 2012 and lower than in 2008. While this poll may not predict exactly how many people will vote, it does show that a huge amount are paying attention.

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