Mitt Romney leads President Obama by a 46 to 44 percent margin among Florida retirees and baby boomers, according an AARP poll released Wednesday.  

Those surveyed said persistent fears of the bad economy, not being able to retire and the future of Social Security and Medicare are of primary concern. In Florida, among the over 50 set who are still working, 62 percent said they expect to have to delay retirement and 49 percent said they fear they may never get to retire.

While the Baby Boomer set in Florida is essentially deadlocked 45 to 46 percent over Romney and Obama, retirees favor Romney over by five percentage points—a potentially troubling number for the president

In Florida, seniors are not just a large segment of the population they are also reliable voters. Seniors make up about a fifth of the state’s population, but they comprise nearly a third of registered voters.

While Obama won among Florida’s 45-64-year-olds four years ago, he lost the senior vote in the state to John McCain.

The results of the poll suggest that the Obama campaign’s efforts to paint Romney as someone who will gut the social safety nets of Medicare and Social Security may not be resonating.

Meanwhile, the poll found Sen. Bill Nelson is trailing his GOP challenger, Rep. Connie Mack by 42 to 39 percent. However, more of Nelson’s supporters—31 to 29 percent–were certain about their support for him, than Mack’s were for him.

The telephone poll of 503 registered voters, conducted between July 10 and July 16, has a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percentage points.

Tags | AARP, Baby Boomer, Barack Obama, Bill Nelson, Connie Mack, Medicare, Mitt Romney, Social Security