POLITICS Polls give Dems slight edge in governor's race

Dewine has the edge for the Senate seat, according to the poll.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Democratic U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland has a slight lead over Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell in the race for Ohio governor, according to a statewide poll released Thursday.
About 50 percent of registered voters said they would select Strickland in the November election versus 44 percent who would choose Blackwell, according to the first major poll since the primary election, conducted by the University of Cincinnati. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
The Ohio Poll, conducted from May 9 through May 21, also showed Republican U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine leading U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, the Democrat challenger for the Senate seat. About 52 percent of voters support DeWine versus 42 percent who favor Brown.
Ninety-two percent of those surveyed knew Blackwell's name, versus 79 percent who had heard of Strickland.
Favorability rating
When asked whether they had a positive opinion of the candidates, people of all parties gave Strickland a 10 percent favorability rating. Blackwell's was lower at just 3 percent, fueled by a heavy unfavorable sentiment among registered Democrats. The rating measures the percentage difference between voters with positive and negative opinions of the candidate.
DeWine was viewed most positively, receiving a 15 percent favorability rating, compared to 7 percent for Brown.
Brown had the lowest name recognition of all four candidates, according to the poll, with just 77 percent of the 698 registered voters sampled knowing who he is. DeWine was recognized by 95 percent of people surveyed.
The two gubernatorial campaigns accentuated the positive in the new numbers -- and their opponent's weaknesses.
"It's showing that Ohioans are hungry for change," said Strickland campaign spokesman Keith Dailey. "It seems that the more voters know Ted Strickland the more they like him. The more they know Ken Blackwell, the less they trust him."
Closing the gap
Lara Mastin, who chairs Blackwell's campaign, said in a statement that her candidate is closing the gap on Strickland, based on the results of two previous polls.
"Ohioans will continue to rally around Ken Blackwell once they become aware of Ted Strickland's inexperience, out-of-touch voting record and inability to get things done," the statement said.
Eric Rademacher, associate director of the Ohio Poll, was not surprised to hear campaigns were spinning the numbers to their best advantage. He said he views the poll as a starting point for judging the progress of the four campaigns as they progress.
"These are four candidates that really are all in pretty good shape," he said. "To have 8 in 10 registered voters, or higher, knowing who you are this early on is a real positive."
Lack of information
The poll also revealed a significant lack of information about the candidates among registered voters, something that Rademacher said will give all four room to move.
Forty-five percent of voters surveyed -- and particularly independents -- said they know too little about Blackwell to judge him. Fifty-one percent said they still need more information about Strickland, with only those in his southeastern Ohio congressional district claiming adequate knowledge. Half of voters said they know too little to judge Brown, compared to 38 percent for DeWine.
Both Senate campaigns downplayed the significance of a poll more than five months before the Nov. 7 election.
"There's a lot of campaign left," DeWine campaign spokesman Brian Seitchik said. "People will begin to hear more about Senator DeWine's record of accomplishment and Congressman Brown's 14-year record in the House and we expect it to be close."
"Everyone can see this is a hotly contested race and polls swing on a variety of issues," Brown campaign spokeswoman Joanna Kuebler said.
Democrats elbowed Paul Hackett, an Iraqi war veteran who was running a strong grass-roots campaign against DeWine, out of the primary in hopes that the popular Brown could prevail in the wake of widespread Republican scandal.
DeWine's campaign didn't rejoice over the apparent advantage of their candidate on name recognition. "Congressman Brown will certainly have the resources to get his message out," Seitchik said. Brown's campaign said it was confident his name recognition would improve.