Latest Swing State Polls 2012: Prior to Final Debate, Obama and Romney in Dead Heat for Florida

By Jean-Paul Salamanca (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Oct 23, 2012 04:18 PM EDT

Tags Presidential Election, President Obama, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Election 2012, Presidential Debate, presidential polls, Election Poll

While the final presidential debate of 2012 concluded in Florida on Monday night, the spotlight on the Sunshine State for this election is only beginning to intensify as Barack Obama and Mitt Romney vie for the 29 electoral votes the state can yield on Election Night.

According to the latest Real Clear Politics poll released on Monday, Romney's 48.4 percent margin holds a slender 1.8 percent lead over Obama's 46.6 percent. However, it should be noted, those polls were taken prior to the Monday debate, therefore do not reflect any possible momentum shift that may have resulted post-debate.

The average of the polls was taken by compiling the averages of five polls, from Rasmussen Reports, FOX News, Public Policy Polling, Survey USA, and one taken by CNN/Opinion Research.

The Rasmussen poll gives Romney the widest lead-by 5 points-as he leads 51 percent to 46 percent. However, another poll submitted by SurveyUSA actually shows Obama in the lead, 47 percent to 46 percent. The other polls show Romney holding a narrow lead in the state, either by one percentage point or three.

In an interview with Fox News this week, Democratic Congressman Ted Deutch said that despite the polls showings, Florida would likely be won by the ground game of who can register the most voters.

"Ultimately, the state is going to be won or lost by what happens on the ground," he said on Fox News. "The Obama campaign has 103 field offices, well trained professionals...the polls don't show the efforts on the ground, the polls only show who (pollsters) talk to."

Another such poll, the Orlando Sentinel reported Saturday, came from Democratic-leaning research firm Project New America, which showed Obama holding a slight edge over Romney in Florida, 48 percent to 45 percent.

"There've been polls all over the place, that's clear to me. What I do know is that we have an effort to move forward and make sure that people understand the difference between the candidates," Deutch added.