Poll: Barack Obama Would Beat Marco Rubio (and Every Other Republican) in Florida

Florida just elected two far-right politicians as its next Governor and Senator, and now Republicans have veto-proof majorities in both houses of the state legislature. So, Barack Obama can kiss his chances of repeating his 2008 Florida win in 2012 goodbye, right? Well, not according to a new survey by...

By Kyle Munzenrieder

December 22, 2010

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Florida just elected two far-right politicians as its next Governor and Senator, and now Republicans have veto-proof majorities in both houses of the state legislature. So, Barack Obama can kiss his chances of repeating his 2008 Florida win in 2012 goodbye, right? Well, not according to a new survey by Public Policy Polling. The current president holds strong leads over every Republican they put him up against in potential 2012 match-ups in the state of Florida.

Granted, the election won't go down until 2012 and Republicans haven't even begun campaigning yet. And, yes, PPP is a Democratic-leaning polling firm. However, the poll shows that Floridians might not be quite so eager to kick Obama out of the White House, even though only 45 percent approve of his job performance while 49 percent disapprove.

Here's the potential match-ups:

Obama: 47% vs Newt Gingrich: 42%
Obama: 49% vs Mick Huckabee: 44%
Obama: 52% vs Sarah Palin: 38%
Obama: 46% vs Mitt Romney: 44%
Obama: 48% vs Marco Rubio: 40%

Interesting that even amongst the electorate that knows him best, Rubio is pulling numbers only slightly better than Sarah Palin. Then again, it may come down to worries over Rubio's experience, and it's unlikely he'll run anyway in 2012.

[Read the poll in PDF format here]

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