President Obama is leading Mitt Romney by three percentage points in Florida, according to a new Quinnipiac/CBS/New York Times poll released Thursday.

The poll found Obama is up 49 percent to 46 percent in Florida. In an earlier Quinnipiac polling results released on Aug. 1, Obama led Romney 51-45 in the Sunshine State.

The poll also had Sen. Bill Nelson leading his Republican challenger, Rep. Connie Mack, 50 to 41 percent. In the new poll released Thursday, independent voters were divided, with 45 percent supporting Nelson and 43 percent favoring Mack.

Obama has a 50 percent favorability rating in Florida compared to Romney, who was rated favorably by 45 percent of respondents compared to 42 percent unfavorably.

Voters in Florida view Romney as the stronger candidate for handling the economy. The poll found 48 percent of seniors say Romney would do a better job on Medicare, versus 44 percent who say that about Obama.

The random telephone survey of 1,241 likely voters in Florida was conducted Aug. 15-21 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.

Tags | Barack Obama, Bill Nelson, CBS, Connie Mack, Mitt Romney, New York Times, Quinnipiac