Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum Running Close to Obama in Florida

Florida, the largest swing state in the nation, will once again be up for grabs in November, according to a poll released on Thursday.

A poll of likely voters in the Sunshine State from Rasmussen Reports finds Democrat incumbent President Barack Obama ahead of both of the leading candidates running for the Republican presidential nomination, but his lead over Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum is within the margin of error.

Obama takes 46 percent to 43 percent when matched against Romney, who won the Florida Republican primary in a rout over Newt Gingrich at the end of January. Seven percent of those surveyed express support for other candidates and 4 percent are undecided.

Despite taking a distant third place in the Republican primary with 13 percent of the vote, Santorum does slightly better in the Sunshine State against Obama than Romney. However, the president leads the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. Obama takes 45 percent in that match-up while Santorum follows on his heels with 43 percent. While 4 percent continue to be undecided in that scenario, 8 percent say they would support other candidates in that scenario.

The poll of 500 likely Florida voters was taken on March 13 and had a margin of error of +/- 4.5 percent.