A Florida poll released late on Thursday by SurveyUSA for WFLA-TV in Tampa found that former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts led the Republican presidential candidates in the Sunshine State with businessman Herman Cain, who won the Presidency 5 straw poll in Orlando last week, right on his heels.

Romney, who took third place in the Presidency 5 straw poll, topped the poll with 27 percent. Cain placed second with 25 percent. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who placed a distant second in the Presidency 5 straw poll, took third place with 13 percent.

The rest of the pack trailed in single digits. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich came in fourth with 6 percent, immediately followed by two members of Congress -- U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas -- who took 5 percent each. Former Gov. Jon Huntsman of Utah took 3 percent while former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum trailed with 2 percent.

Romney, who took 31 percent and carried 18 counties in the 2008 Florida presidential primary, was seen favorably by 55 percent of Florida Republicans, while 19 percent viewed him unfavorably. Perry, who is battling Romney to lead the national polls, did worse: 36 percent viewed Perry as favorable while 28 percent saw the Texas governor in an unfavorable light.

The poll found that Florida Republicans wanted two high-profile possible candidates to stay out of the presidential race.

Only 26 percent of those surveyed wanted Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey to enter the presidential race, while a majority -- 51 percent -- wanted the Garden State Republican to stay home. Christie has generally been resistant to entering the presidential race but a final decision is expected next week.

An overwhelming majority of those surveyed -- 76 percent -- wanted former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska to stay out of the presidential race. Only 16 percent of Florida Republicans want Palin, who rose to national prominence as John McCain’s running mate back in 2008, to enter the contest.

The survey of 500 likely Republican primary voters was taken from Sept. 24-27 and had a margin of error of +/- 4.5 percent, with the exception of the question on Palin which had a margin of error of +/- 3.8 percent.

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