Fla. Seniors More Scared by Obama’s Health Plan Than Ryan’s

President Barack Obama’s plans for healthcare are far more scary for seniors than those proposed by Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, a new poll in Florida shows.

More than half — 54 percent — of those over 65 say Obamacare scares them more than Ryan’s plan, the poll from Rasmussen Reports shows. Only one in three believe the Ryan plan is more scary.

The figures show the older a person is the more likely they are to be worried by the Obama plan. For likely voters under 39, both plans scare them equally, for those between 40 and 64, Obama’s is the worse by a 47 to 41 percent margin.

The figures also show that Hispanics are far more worried than whites who are, in turn, more worried than blacks about Obamacare.

But the Rasmussen Reports poll is not all good news for the Mitt Romney campaign on the heels of Saturday’s announcement that he had selected Ryan as his running mate.

While 43 percent say Ryan is the right choice — as against 32 percent who thought Romney should have picked someone else — 37 percent say they are less likely to vote for Romney with Ryan on the ticket while only 33 percent say the choice made them more likely to vote for the Republicans.

And 45 percent think Ryan is not ready to be president, with only 37 percent saying he is ready to step into Romney’s shoes.

The overall figure in Florida shows Romney with a two percentage point lead over Obama among likely voters, with 11 percent opting for either some other candidate or saying they are not sure who they will vote for.

However there is a huge age gap. Seniors give Romney a 24 percentage point lead, but those under 30 give Obama the edge by 16 points.

Other figures from the Florida poll include:

• Only one likely voter in 100 thinks the economy is in “excellent” condition, with another 7 percent calling it good. A total of 38 percent said it was fair and 52 percent rated it poor;
• Slightly less than half rank Ryan’s ideology as “very conservative” with another 29 percent calling him “conservative.” Eight percent called him “moderate;”
• Half of all voters believe government spending will go up if Obama is re-elected and the Democrats regain control of Congress. Less than one-in-four think spending will increase if Romney wins and the Republicans win control;
• Obama has 49 percent of likely voters giving him a favorable approval and exactly the same number giving him an unfavorable one.

The survey of 500 likely voters was conducted on Wednesday.