Washington Bureau

New Poll Has Obama Leading McCain In Florida

WASHINGTON – Most Floridians don’t want or don’t care if Gov. Charlie Crist or Sen. Bill Nelson join their parties’ presidential nominee on a national ticket, according to a new poll that has Barack Obama leading in the state over John McCain.

Democrat Obama edges Republican McCain 47 percent to 43 percent among registered voters in the state, shows the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute poll of 1,453 registered voters.

The margin of error of the Florida poll, conducted from June 9 through Monday (June 16) was plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

The poll also has Obama leading McCain in two other traditional presidential swing states, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

At this early point in the campaign, Obama’s lead in Florida should be viewed with some historical perspective, said Peter Brown, assistant director of the polling institute.

In June of 2005, Democrat John Kerry held a similar edge in the state over President Bush, who eventually carried Florida, he noted.

The poll also shows that picking a Floridian for vice president apparently won’t help either nominee carry the state’s 27 electoral votes.

Crist and Nelson have been among those mentioned as possible vice presidential picks for their respective parties.

The poll shows that 86 percent of Floridians say the vice presidential candidate is very important or somewhat important to them.

But only 16 percent said they’d be more likely to vote Republican if Crist were McCain’s vice presidential candidate, while 21 percent said they be less likely to do so. Another 58 percent said it would have no bearing on their vote.

As for Nelson, only 8 percent said they would be more likely to vote Democratic if the senator is on the ticket with Obama, while 15 percent said they would be less likely to do so. Another 69 percent said it would not it would not have any bearing on their vote.

Both men are seen favorably by state voters in their current roles, but “seeing someone as a governor or a senator is different that seeing them as a president,” said Brown.

-- Billy House

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