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Kasich trails Trump among Ohio Republican voters, poll says

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

COLUMBUS

Gov. John Kasich trails Donald Trump among likely Republican voters in Ohio, according to a new poll released Tuesday.

Kasich is just outside the margin of error, though, with 26 percent of Ohioans backing his candidacy, versus 31 percent for Trump, the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute found.

And Kasich had the best favorability among likely Republican primary voters in his home state.

The governor’s presidential hopes likely hinge on his performance in Ohio.

“The Donald Trump train begins the three-week campaign for Ohio’s crucial delegates on the right track and holds a small lead over the Buckeye State’s own governor, John Kasich,” Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, said in a released statement. “A Kasich Ohio win is crucial to the Republicans trying to stop the New York businessman’s nomination. If Trump can defeat Kasich in his home state, that would be an impressive demonstration of his strength in a state that is just now getting attention. But Trump’s lead is just 5 points, certainly not large enough for him to breathe easy.”

Connecticut-based Quinnipiac regularly gauges Ohioans’ opinions on candidates and issues.

It polled 759 likely Republican primary voters and 518 likely Democratic primary voters over the past week on their presidential preferences.

The results had a margin of error of about 4 percentage points.

Following Trump and Kasich, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was third with 21 percent support in Ohio, followed by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio with 13 percent. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson was last, with 5 percent.

Kasich’s result was improved from Quinnipiac’s October poll, when he came in third behind Trump and Carson.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outpaced Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, 55 percent-40 percent, among Democratic voters.

Clinton “has a solid double-digit lead over Sen. Sanders, but anything can happen in three weeks in presidential politics,” Brown said.