By Emily Burris – WUFT-FM
Things may be looking better for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney among Florida voters. A new poll from the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute shows him pulling ahead of President Obama. Assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute Peter Brown says this isn’t unique to the state of Florida.
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The poll found that given the choice between a hypothetical Republican ticket of Mitt Romney and vice presidential candidate Marco Rubio, against a Democratic ticket of President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, voters chose a Romney/Rubio ticket 49 percent versus 41 percent for Obama/Biden. Now that other Republican hopefuls have dropped out of the race, voters have now turned their attention to Romney. The most recent poll showed him leading among men and independent voters.
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President Obama struggled in the most recent poll as 52 percent of Florida voters said the president does not deserve a second term. But while they don’t seem to approve of him in office, they still seem to like him. Seventy-six percent of Florida voters said Obama is a likeable person, while only 58 percent feel the same for Romney. Brown says Obama has always had an edge in the “likeable” measure.
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If the economy is the issue that remains on everyone’s mind, these polls may be an indicator of Romney’s increased popularity. However Brown says it’s too soon to predict any election outcomes.
