A new poll of registered voters from Public Policy Polling (PPP), a firm with connections to prominent Democrats, shows that Barack Obama holds a small lead over Mitt Romney in Florida.

The poll of voters in the Sunshine State shows Obama taking 50 percent while Romney follows with 46 percent -- just short of the poll’s margin of error of +/- 3.9 percent. A PPP poll of Florida taken back in April had Obama taking 50 percent and Romney garnering 45 percent.

Obama gets mixed marks in the poll with his approval under 50 percent. According to the poll, 49 percent of those surveyed approve of him while 46 percent disapprove of him. Romney is upside down in the poll with 39 percent seeing him in a favorable light while 53 percent view him as unfavorable.

The poll shows that two favorite sons from the Sunshine State are above water with Florida voters but do little to help Romney close the gap on Obama if he names them to the ticket. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., gets the approval of 44 percent of those surveyed while 40 percent disapprove of him. The poll shows Rubio helps Romney a tad, with Obama/Vice President Joe Biden pulling 49 percent while the Republicans follow with 46 percent.

According to the PPP poll, former Gov. Jeb Bush is in better shape than Rubio with Florida voters but does not help Romney at all if moved to the ticket. While 48 percent approve of Bush and 42 percent disapprove of him, the Obama/Biden ticket takes 50 percent in the survey while Romney/Bush follow with 45 percent.

The PPP poll shows Gov. Rick Scott is upside down with only 31 percent of those surveyed approving of him while 56 percent disapprove of him. According to the poll, adding Scott to the ticket drags Romney down in Florida. The Republicans take 38 percent in that scenario while the Democrats garner 52 percent.

The poll finds that U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., does not help Romney if he is added to the ticket. West is largely unknown with 49 percent of those surveyed, saying they do not know enough about him to hold an opinion, while 31 percent see him as unfavorable and 20 percent view him in a favorable light. The Obama/Biden ticket takes 49 percent when matched against a Romney/West pairing which follows with 38 percent.

“Florida’s going to be closely contested this fall as it always is,” said Dean Debnam, the president of PPP, on Tuesday. “But for now we’re finding Barack Obama as a modest favorite in the state.”

The poll of 642 registered voters was taken from May 31-June 3 and had a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percent.



Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.