Presidential Polls 2012: Romney Ahead in Florida on Eve of Final Presidential Debate

Impact

On the eve of the third and final presidential debate, this Monday at 9:00 p.m. (ET) from Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, Republican challenger Mitt Romney leads President Obama by 4 percentage points in the crucial battleground state of Florida according to a plurality of polls averaged by The New York Times' "FiveThirtyEight."  

Four surveys, from Fox News, CNN, Rasmussen and Harvard/Hill Research, conducted in the coveted Sunshine State, show Romney leading the president by margins from as little as 1 and as much as 5 percentage points, for an averaged Romney lead of 4.4 percentage points over Obama. 

Fox News has Romney up by 3 percentage points, while CNN shows the former governor of Massachusetts leading Obama by just 1 percentage point. Rasmussen, on the other hand, has Romney leading Obama by 5 percentage points, while Harvard/Hill Research shows Obama trailing his Republican challenger by 4 percentage points. 

This, despite what is largely considered a narrow Obama win over Romney during the second presidential debate where the former governor of Massachusetts regaled the president with the now infamous "binder full of women" gaffe — as both campaigns fight tooth and nail for the female vote, a group among which Obama held an almost insurmountable lead for most of the year but that amazingly has started to flock to the Romney/Ryan ticket.

That's why the president has been ramping up his attacks on an increasingly dangerous challenger, coining the term "Romnesia" to try to define Romney as someone who "forgets" his political principles as he "flip-flops" from one opinion to another supposedly saying anything to be elected president on November 6. 

However, the reinvigorated Romney campaign is pushing back by also ramping up its attacks on President Obama who they accuse of not having a plan for the next four years. Romney also directly addressed the "Romnesia" claim by saying that the "shrinking" Obama campaign is running out of steam and ideas and it's playing instead "silly word games."