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Strickland trails Kasich in poll of voters
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Governor John Kasich
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Ohio Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland
By MARC KOVAC
COLUMBUS
Gov. Ted Strickland is trailing his Republican challenger by 17 percentage points, according to a new survey of likely voters.
The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute put John Kasich ahead of the state’s top Democrat by a margin of 54 percent to 37 percent. And 85 percent of those polled said they have their minds made up and won’t be switching candidates before Election Day on Nov. 2.
“Ohio is not an island,” Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the polling institute, said in a released statement Thursday. “Clearly, Kasich is benefiting from the national anti-incumbent, anti-Democratic wave, which seems to be sweeping the country. Ohio, which is the most important swing state in the country come presidential elections, is also a good marker for the off-year balloting,” Brown said. “If Kasich were to lead a Republican sweep in Ohio, it would be a good indication that the Republican landslide many are predicting nationally might come to fruition.”
Connecticut-based Quinnipiac regularly gauges Ohioans’ views on candidates and issues.
Over the past week — from Sept. 9 through the day of Strickland and Kasich’s first debate earlier this week — the institute questioned 730 likely voters in the state, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.
Among the results:
Respondents disapprove of the job Strickland is doing as governor, 59 percent to 34 percent. But 47 percent give Kasich a positive rating, versus 27 percent who said the opposite.
Fifty-five percent of those surveyed believe Kasich will do a better job rebuilding the state’s economy, and 54 percent said he would do a better job handling the state budget.
A total of 77 percent of voters said they were either “somewhat dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with the way things are going in Ohio.
“In bad times, governors and presidents pay the political price, and since Barack Obama is not on the ballot this year, Ted Strickland is the focus of unhappy Ohioans,” Brown said.