Barack Obama,  Mitt Romney,  Polling,  President 2012,  Rick Perry

President 2012 Florida Poll Watch: Obama 44% Vs. Romney 44%

According to the latest Quinnipiac Poll.

 President Barack Obama is losing support among Florida voters, especially among independents, a poll released Thursday shows.

Fifty percent of voters surveyed randomly by landline telephone between July 27-Aug. 2 by Quinnipiac (Conn.) University said Obama would not deserve a second term in the election were held today. However, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was the only announced Republican candidate with enough support in the poll to give the president a strong challenge. Both men were favored by 44 percent of those questioned.

In a matchup against Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is expected to get into the race for the GOP presidential nomination, Obama was favored 44 percent to 39 percent.

Florida with 29 Electoral College votes is one of the key battleground states that the GOP must win in order to deny President Obama re-election. So far, so good for Republicans Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. The President against both men is below the magic 50 per cent mark.

Remember Obama beat John McCain in Florida by three points in the 2008 Presidential race and without Florida’s EC votes, Obama has a reduced path to re-election. 270 votes are needed to win.

The president’s popularity dipped slightly in Quinnipiac’s survey of 743 voters after the long, acrimonious battle on the debt ceiling. His negative rating increased from 50 percent to 51 percent despite most respondents, 36 percent, saying he acted in their best interests during the lengthy debate compared to 32 percent for Republican House Speaker John Boehner and 12 percent for Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Overall, 42 percent said the president deserves re-election.

Obama’s job approval rating in Florida was 44 percent compared to 51 percent who disapproved, a drop from a 51-43 favorable rating he enjoyed in a May survey by Quinnipiac shortly after U.S. Navy SEALs killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.