Mitt Romney beats President Obama in Florida 46% to 43% if the election were held today, according to a new poll by Quinnipiac University. The Miami Herald headlined the poll: “FL voters say Barack Obama doesn’t deserve a second term, prefer Mitt Romney.”
Among key findings of the January survey:
* Voters give President Obama a negative job approval rating of 42% to 54% and say by a 52% to 44% margin that he does not deserve a second term.
* The President is very unpopular with seniors, losing 49 to 40 percent among voters 50 to 64 years old and losing 53 to 39 percent among voters over 65.
Quinnipiac University’s polling analyst Peter Brown noted, “The problem for Obama is that those over 50 make up 62 percent of the electorate, compared to the 35 percent who are under 50. Florida is among the most important swing states in the country and if the election was today President Barack Obama would have difficulty winning its electoral votes.”
Obama’s numbers no doubt are even worse in the solidly Republican 13th Congressional District, which has voted for every Republican presidential candidate going back more than 50 years. Obama lost the 13th District in 2008 even as he was winning statewide. The 13th District, one of the most Republican districts in Florida, is home to more seniors than virtually any other congressional district in the nation.
Vern won re-election in 2008 by nearly 20 points when Obama was elected. Vern was re-elected with nearly 70 percent of the vote in 2010.
