With independent voters shifting to his side, President Obama has regained the lead in Florida over presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, while in the Florida Senate race, Democrat Bill Nelson would edge Republican Connie Mack, a poll Thursday shows.

The Quinnipiac University survey showed Obama with a 46-42 percent lead over Romney, reversing its own May poll that showed the Republican with the advantage in the nation’s biggest toss-up state.

Independent voters, which a month ago were siding more with Romney, have shifted toward Obama, who now holds a 46-37 percent advantage in those not allied with either party.

“At this point, Romney is not well-defined in the minds of many voters, especially those in the middle,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll.  “This movement reflects that uncertainty among voters who are up for grabs.”

Florida’s U.S. Senate race also appears up-for-grabs. The survey’s release coincided with the departure of Republican George LeMieux from the race, whose dropping out appears to clear the nomination path for Mack, already the clear frontrunner.

Mack was supported by 41 percent of Republican voters in the survey, with neither remaining rivals, former Army Col. Mike McCalister or former U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon cracking double digits.

Nelson, seeking a third term in the Senate, still tops Mack by 43-39 percent, Quinnipiac found. Mack and Nelson were tied in the school’s May survey.

Brown said the “projected November election between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Mack looks like it could go down to the wire.”

“Sen. Nelson gets modest reviews from voters who give him a 47 – 32 percent job approval rating,” Brown said. “By 46 – 33 percent they say he deserves another term.  He gets a 44 – 26 percent favorability rating.  By comparison, Mack has a 34 – 22 percent favorability rating, with 42 percent who don’t know enough about him to form an opinion.”

The telephone survey was conducted June 12-18 and included 1,697 registered voters. It has a margin-of-error of plus-or-minus 2.4 percentage points.

Gov. Rick Scott’s popularity is on the rise but the first-term governor has a long way to go to convince voters he’s doing what they want, a new poll released this morning found.

The Quinnipiac University poll found Scott’s approval rating climbed to 35 percent, up 6 percentage points, since May.

But the survey of registered voters found more than 50 percent of Floridians still don’t like Scott’s policies or his handling of the state budget, and more than three-fourths don’t know that the budget did not raise taxes.

And the survey found that even voters who approve of Scott’s accomplishments in theory don’t know what he’s accomplished, and many don’t like him personally.

The poll showed voters approved by a 58-29 percent margin a budget approach that cuts only spending rather than a combination of spending and tax hikes. But more than three-quarters of registered voters who responded to the poll did not know that Scott’s budget did not raise taxes. And more than half – 51 percent – said the state budget is unfair to them, compared to 33 percent who found it fair. The poll also found that voters dislike Scott’s policies by a margin of 54-34 percent; forty-two percent of those polled said the budget cuts went too far, 20 percent said they did not go far enough and 25 percent agreed with the cuts.

“It would seem that Gov. Rick Scott and his aides have failed to get their message out,” Quinnipiac University pollster Peter Brown said.

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Florida congressional Democrats and Republican have been sparring over who to blame if the standoff over raising the debt ceiling leads to a government default.

But a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday shows President Obama may be winning the war of words.

The survey of 2,311 voters across the nation, shows:

*Voters will blame Republicans over Obama 48 – 34 percent if the debt limit is not raised;

* Voters say 67 – 25 percent that an agreement to raise the debt ceiling should include tax hikes for the wealthy and corporations, not just spending cuts;

* Voters say 45 – 37 percent that Obama’s proposals to raise revenues are “closing loopholes,” rather than “tax hikes.”

And who do voters blame for the nation’s lousy economy? 

“”Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of President Obama’s handling of the economy, but by 2-1 they pin the blame on former President George W. Bush rather than Obama, who is now more than 60 percent through his term of office,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.