Friday, August 21, 2015
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Gov. John Kasich remains atop the Republican presidential field among Ohio’s GOP voters, but he still isn’t registering much with voters in two other swing states.
That’s according to a new poll by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, released Thursday and capturing voter sentiment since the Republican presidential debate earlier this month.
Kasich snagged support from 27 percent of Ohio Republican voters, outpacing business mogul Donald Trump at 21 percent. No other Republican candidate received double-digit support in the state, and 11 percent of Ohio Republicans remain undecided.
But Trump continued to outpace Kasich and other candidates in Pennsylvania and Florida, with 24 percent and 21 percent support, respectively.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was second in Florida, with 17 percent, followed by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, both with 11 percent.
In Pennsylvania, Carson was second, with 13 percent, and Rubio was third, with 10 percent.
Kasich netted 3 percent support in Pennsylvania and Florida. And 58 percent of Pennsylvania voters and 60 percent in Florida said they hadn’t heard enough about Ohio’s governor to offer an opinion about him.
“Ohio is important, but if Gov. John Kasich is going to be a serious candidate for the Republican nomination, he must broaden his appeal,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the poll, said in a released statement.
Connecticut-based Quinnipiac regularly gauges Ohioans’ opinions on candidates and issues.
Its latest survey included 1,093 Florida voters, 1,096 Ohio voters and 1,085 Pennsylvania voters. The Republican-specific results had a margin of error of 4 to 5 percentage points.
On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continues to lead other candidates in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.
But her support is slipping, and Vice President Joe Biden fared as well or better against potential Republican candidates.
“The good news for Clinton is that she remains far ahead of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Biden in three Democratic primary contests,” Brown said.
Brown also said the first GOP debate swayed voters.
“Gov. Jeb Bush got middling debate grades and slips in the GOP horse race,” he said.
“Yet he does very well when voters rate the leading Republican candidates on personal characteristics. ... Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker gets very low debate grades and all but disappears from the Republican primary list.”