Poll: Obama Personally Popular; Policies Not
MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – President Barack Obama's re-election chances will hinge on swing-states like Florida. But, new polling from Quinnipiac University finds that voters in the Sunshine State are not happy with the President over the debt deal.
According to the poll, President Obama's approval rating in Florida sank to just 44 percent with 51 percent disapproval. By a 50-42 percent margin, Florida voters said Obama does not deserve to be re-elected after the debt deal was signed.
Interestingly enough, despite Obama's job disapproval rating; he commands a 73 percent likability rating amongst Florida voters.
As for the debt deal itself, 48 percent of Florida residents said President Obama behaved more responsibly in the debt ceiling debacle, compared to 33 percent choosing Republicans. In addition, by a 38-34 percent margin, Florida voters said Democrats in Congress behaved more responsibly in the debt ceiling negotiations.
When it comes to which Republican candidate has the best chance of knocking off Obama in an election, Mitt Romney leads the pack. Romney tied Obama in the poll at 44 percent. Texas Governor Rick Scott trailed Obama, 44-39 percent. Obama leads all other GOP contenders by double digits.
In the GOP primary race, Romney leads with 23 percent, Perry comes in at 13 percent, Sarah Palin and Ron Paul get 9 percent each, Herman Cain comes in at 8 percent, and tea party favorite Michelle Bachman comes in at 6 percent.
In a race for U.S. Senate, incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson leads an unnamed Republican challenger by a 46-35 percent margin. In the GOP Senate race, Michael McCalister leads all contenders to challenge Nelson.
Congress fares no better than the President in approval ratings. Sixty-nine percent of those surveyed disapproved of the way Republicans in Congress are doing their job. Sixty-six percent disapproved of the way Democrats in Congress were handling their jobs.
