Poll: Romney leads among Florida's Hispanic voters

Hispanic voters in Florida prefer Mitt Romney to Newt Gingrich by a wide margin, but still pick President Obama over any GOP candidate, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

Among Florida's Hispanic voters planning to vote in the Republican primary, 35 percent plan to vote for Romney and 20 percent for Gingrich, according to the poll by Latino Decisions for Univision News and ABC News.

Ron Paul and Rick Santorum trail with 6 and 7 percent, respectively. The poll found 21 percent of voters still undecided.

Hispanic voters are a key swing vote in Florida, where about one in 10 likely Republican primary voters is Latino. Romney lost the state to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2008, a difference credited in part to the Hispanic vote. Although Gingrich is currently leading Romney in national suveys, polling indicates a very tight two-man race in Florida, where the primary vote will be held Jan. 31.

The survey found that Obama wins against both Romney (67 to 25 percent) and Gingrich (70 to 22 percent) in hypothetical head-to-head match-ups. It also found that 53 percent of Hispanic voters nationally and 58 percent in Florida are less excited about Obama now than they were in 2008. 

ABC News points out that Cubans in Florida tend to support Romney over Obama but Puerto Ricans prefer Obama over Romney.

But Republicans might have a way to go to reach Hispanic voters: Seventeen percent surveyed said Republicans are doing a good job reaching out to Hispanics, while 45 percent said the GOP does not care and 27 percent that the GOP is hostile toward Hispanics.

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