Mitt Romney is Losing Support in These Three Key Swing States

Sep. 26, 2012— -- President Obama leads Republican challenger Mitt Romney by significant margins according to a new Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll.

Support for Romney among whites and men has dropped slightly, while the president continues to hold an 87 to 11 percent lead among nonwhites. More than two-thirds of Hispanic voters are expected to cast ballots for Obama.

And two-thirds of likely voters in Florida support the deferred action policies put in place recently by the Obama administration. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy allows some undocumented young people who were brought to the country as children apply for two-year, renewable periods of relief from deportation. 66 percent of Florida likely voters say they support the DREAM Act, a number that jumps to 80 percent among likely Hispanic voters.

Obama leads Romney 53 to 43 percent in Ohio, 53 to 44 percent in Florida, and 54 to 42 percent in Pennsylvania, according to the poll. He has widened the Ohio lead to 10 points from six points just one month ago.

The president also leads in all three states on every issue but the budget deficit, including immigration.

Most voters in all three states think Romney's policies will favor the wealthy. Romney has drawn criticism for a recently leaked video in which he can be heard saying he doesn't have to worry about nearly half the country because "there are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what."

Romney has emphasized his business experience and said he is best suited to fix the economy, but that argument isn't playing as well with voters as it used to. Last month in Florida, Romney led Obama on the question of who would do a better job of fixing the economy, but this most recent poll puts Obama ahead by five points.

In Florida, Obama's lead over Romney has increased from three percent before the Republican and Democratic national conventions to nine points.

The Ohio numbers in particular are significant. Obama has continued to widen his lead there in recent months, and ABC News moved the state from "toss up" to "lean Obama" on Wednesday, putting the ABC Electoral Colelge estimate at 255 for Obama and 206 for Romney. The candidates need 270 votes to win the White House.

No Republican president has won an election without winning Ohio. And Romney's chances of reclaiming the lead in the Buckeye state look slim.

While the Romney camp says it doesn't put much stake in polls and prefers to conduct its own polls, both candidates recognize the importance of the swing state. Obama and Romney are campaigning in Ohio on Wednesday in an attempt to woo voters just six weeks before the election.

The poll was conducted between Sep. 18 and 24, and surveyed more than 1,150 people in each of the three states by telephone with a margin of error between 2.8 and 2.9 percent.