Obama leads Romney in key states, but voters skeptical of both
President Obama leads Mitt Romney in the key swing states of Florida and Ohio, a new poll shows, and has a slight edge over Romney in Pennsylvania. Still, voters in those critical states remain wary of both the Republican front-runner and the president.
No presidential candidate since 1960 has won the White House without carrying two of the three states polled by Quinnipiac in the past week. While it's too early to tell how Mr. Obama will match up against his eventual Republican opponent, the latest polling falls in his favor.
In Florida, Mr. Obama bests Romney 49 percent to 42 percent in a hypothetical match-up. In Ohio, Mr. Obama leads 47 percent to 41 percent. In Pennsylvania, the president leads 45 percent to 42 percent -- close to the poll's 2.8 percent margin of error.
The survey also pitted Mr. Obama against Republican candidate Rick Santorum, with the president holding a sound lead in all three states.
While he currently has an edge over Romney, the likely GOP nominee, it's notable that Mr. Obama fails to win more than 50 percent of the vote in any of the three states surveyed. In all three states, more voters view the president favorably than unfavorably -- but they have mixed opinions about whether he deserves to be re-elected.
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In Florida, 51 percent have a favorable opinion of Mr. Obama, and 44 percent have a negative opinion. Half of Floridians think he should be re-elected, and 47 percent think he shouldn't. In Ohio, Mr. Obama's favorability rating is 49 percent, and his negative rating is 46 percent. Voters there are split, at 48 percent, over whether he deserves another term. In Pennsylvania, voters view the president favorably 48 percent to 46 percent, but 50 percent say he shouldn't be re-elected and just 46 percent say he should.
On top of that, voters in both Florida (48 percent to 45 percent) and Pennsylvania (48 percent to 42 percent) say Romney would do a better job on the economy -- the most important issue to voters. In Ohio, voters split at 45 percent over which candidate would do a better job.
While Mr. Obama's favorability ratings are weak, Romney's are worse. Just 41 percent of voters in Florida have a favorable opinion of Romney, while 36 percent view him unfavorably and 19 percent don't know enough about him. In Ohio, voters have an unfavorable view of Romney, 43 percent to 36 percent, while they have a slightly negative view in Pennsylvania at 38 percent to 37 percent.
