SARASOTA, Fla. — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, his poll numbers slipping in Florida, pivoted away from attacking rival Newt Gingrich and shifted his criticism to President Obama, whom he blamed for the economic slump that has hurt Florida almost more than any other state.

“Today, President Obama has amassed an actual record of debt, decline and disappointment,” Romney told a crowd of about 300, standing beneath a huge “Obama Isn’t Working” banner in a shuttered drywall factory. “This president’s agenda made these troubled times last longer. He and his allies made it harder for the economy to recover.”