Poll: Obama’s mortgage bailout unfair, necessary

By Marc Kovac

The president’s approval rating remains high among Ohioans polled recently.

COLUMBUS — Ohioans think President Barack Obama’s mortgage bailout is unfair but necessary in dealing with the foreclosure crisis, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Sixty-three percent of those questioned by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute said Obama’s mortgage plan was unfair to those who make their payments on time, but more than half also said they’d approve it anyway.

A total of 57 percent also said they approve of the job Obama is doing as the nation’s chief executive, versus 33 percent who do not. That compares with an approval rating of 67 percent to 16 percent a month ago.

“During a presidential election, Ohio is the single most important state in the country because of its history of being a decisive barometer,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the polling institute, said in a statement released to the press. “So the 10-point drop in President Obama’s support in the Buckeye State is something that the White House might want to pay attention to.”

He added, “The good news for the president is that in Ohio, voters give him much better grades for handling the economy, 53–36 percent approval for handling the economy, than they do [Gov. Ted Strickland].”

Quinnipiac regularly gauges Ohioans’ attitudes on candidates, office-holders and issues.

It polled 1,299 registered Ohio voters (including 463 Republicans and 506 Democrats) over the past week on Obama and on potential match-ups for retiring U.S. Sen. George Voinovich’s seat.

On the latter, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher is outpacing Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and other potential Democratic candidates, though 46 percent of those polled remain undecided.

Both Fisher and Brunner are outpacing potential Republican candidates Rob Portman and Mary Taylor.

“In Columbus, there may be a great deal of jockeying about the Senate race, but around the state voters have not yet begun to pay attention to the contest,” Brown said.

“It is clear at this point that there remains a Democratic advantage in the Ohio electorate that evidenced itself in 2006 and 2008.”