Poll: Ohioans split over Boehner’s tears
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Ohioans are pretty evenly split in their thoughts on Republican U.S. House Speaker John Boehner’s tears.
According to the latest poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, 36 percent said the congressman’s crying is a sign of strength rather than weakness, while 27 percent said the opposite. Thirty-seven percent remained undecided.
Respondents also were split on President Barack Obama, with 48 percent saying he deserves to be re-elected and 44 percent saying he does not.
Forty-nine percent gave the president a favorable job rating, compared with 46 percent who said the opposite.
Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown fared better, with 45 percent saying he deserves another term and 30 percent saying he does not.
Brown “starts off his 2012 re-election campaign in decent but not overwhelming shape,” Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the institute, said in a released statement.
“He’d like to be above the magic 50-percent threshold, but he is within hailing distance. President Barack Obama is in a slightly weaker position … when it comes to carrying Ohio, perhaps the nation’s premier swing state, in the 2012 election.”
Connecticut-based Quinnipiac regularly gauges Ohioans’ views on candidates and issues.
It surveyed 1,299 registered voters over the past week, asking questions about the president and senator and other federal issues.
Among the results:
More than half of respondents (54 percent) oppose U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, with 38 percent saying the opposite. Voters were more evenly split when Quinnipiac asked that question in June.
Voters are split on health- care reform, with 46 percent saying the federal law should be repealed and 44 percent who want it kept in place.
Women looked more favorably on Boehner’s tendency to cry, with 44 percent seeing it as a strength. Thirty-four percent of men said the tears were a weakness.
The results have a margin of error of 2.7 percent.