COLUMBUS – Governor and presidential hopeful John Kasich’s approval rating with Ohio voters is as high as ever, while incumbent U.S. Sen. Rob Portman is narrowing the gap between himself and his Democratic challenger, according to a new poll.
According to the latest poll from Quinnipiac University, released Tuesday morning, 61 percent of voters approve of the job Kasich is doing as governor, matching his all-time high, while 28 percent disapprove. Kasich’s approval rating is 84 percent among Republicans and 60 percent among independent voters while Democrats are divided 46 percent to 44 percent.
In the 2016 Senate race, former governor Ted Strickland has a 44 percent to 41 percent lead over Republican Rob Portman.
“The too-close-to-call status of the U.S. Senate race between Sen. Rob Portman and former Gov. Ted Strickland is progress for the Republican incumbent who had trailed the Democratic challenger in previous Quinnipiac University polls,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
Voters approve 45 percent to 26 percent of the job Portman is doing and give him a 42 percent favorability rating to Strickland’s 44 percent favorability rating while 88 percent of voters surveyed don’t know enough about the other Democratic challenger, Cincinnati City Council member P.G. Sittenfeld, to form an opinion of him.
Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown gets an approval rating of 47 percent to 29 percent disapproval.
The poll was conducted from Aug. 7 — 18 and has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points.