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Governor, senator races divide Valley voters sharply
GeoffREY Hauschild | The vindicator
Barbara McDaniels, a retired school teacher from Niles, participated in the statewide poll. She plans to vote for incumbent Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and for Lee Fisher for U.S. Senate.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
Bruce Byers, a 59-year-old retiree from the Lordstown General Motors complex, doesn’t know much about John Kasich and Rob Portman.
But he’s going to vote for those Republicans for governor and U.S. Senate, respectively, because of his dissatisfaction with their Democratic opponents, Gov. Ted Strickland and Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher.
“I’m prepared to go out of my comfort zone and clean house,” said Byers, of Homeworth in Columbiana County.
But Barbara McDaniels of Niles, a 71-year-old retired teacher, said she’s voting to re-elect Strickland and elect Fisher to the Senate because they’re doing a good job under difficult economic circumstances.
“We’re in too much of a hurry to change things,” she said. “We need to give [Democrats] more time.”
Byers and McDaniels are among the 852 likely voters interviewed by telephone between Sept. 16 and Monday for the Ohio Newspaper Poll conducted by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati.
The poll shows Kasich ahead of Strickland 49 percent to 45 percent statewide. Both have 47 percent of the Northeast Ohio vote.
The poll also has Portman leading Fisher 55 percent to 40 percent statewide with the Republican holding a 49 percent to 47 percent lead in Northeast Ohio, the region where Fisher is polling best.
The poll has a 3.4 percent margin of error.
The poll was commissioned by the Ohio News Organization, a consortium of the state’s eight largest daily newspapers, including The Vindicator.
Byers called himself a “union guy and a Democrat almost my life,” but he now “has doubts where the Democrats are leading us.” Byers said there are “too many people on the dole. Too many people are on welfare who shouldn’t be.”
McDaniels said: “With the recession, [Strickland] couldn’t have done better with the money he had to work with.”
As for Kasich, McDaniels said she doesn’t “like” him because “he was connected with Lehman Brothers.”
She favors Fisher over Portman because of the lieutenant governor’s “political affiliation. He’ll give President Obama a chance to get things done. Rob Portman, I don’t know much about him.”
Leonard V. Costantini of North Lima, a 70-year-old retired school administrator who also participated in the poll, said he’s voting for Kasich and Portman.
“I think John Kasich would be a good governor,” he said. “He’s oriented towards job improvement and opportunities for Ohio, and he articulates that very well.”
He said Portman is “pretty much the same ilk” as Kasich.
Costantini said Strickland and Fisher are “more union-oriented, and those [are] qualities I object to. They lack positive approaches to finance. I think they’re overly anxious to spend.”
Mahoning County Republican Chairman Mark Munroe said he’s very pleased with the poll results, particularly with the two Republicans’ performance in Northeast Ohio, a traditionally Democratic region.
“Republicans should feel good about these numbers, but there’s a long way to go,” he said. “Typically, if Republicans can keep it close in Northeast Ohio, they win big statewide. Our chances look good. Voters are very dissatisfied with what’s happened over the last four years. Voters are angry, and they’re going to take their anger out on Democrats on Nov. 2.”
Mahoning County Democratic Party Chairman David Betras said he expects the support for Kasich and Portman to erode.
The Senate “race is not lost,” he said. “None of those races are lost. [Winning] is about an organized get-out-the-vote effort, and we have that. There is enough time to get the message out statewide.”
Betras said he’s confident Strickland and Fisher will receive strong support from the Mahoning Valley, which will offset the votes in places where the Republicans are strong.