COLUMBUS – Governor John Kasich’s path to the Republican nomination for president is starting to look more like 40 miles of bad road.
READ: Breakdown of Tuesday’s primary results
Even though he had a strong finish in Tuesday’s Michigan primary, trailing second-place Sen. Ted Cruz by only a single percentage point, a new poll indicates he will not be able to deliver on his vow to win Ohio’s March 15 primary.
“The outcome in Michigan tonight means our campaign is ahead of schedule,” read an upbeat analysis from Kasich’s campaign.
“Governor Kasich won late deciders in Michigan with 35 percent,” wrote Kasich for America chief strategist John Weaver. “Governor Kasich’s performance in Michigan provides a springboard into the races on March 15, the day the race will officially reset. Governor Kasich will win Ohio, picking up all of its 66 delegates. His performance in Ohio and other March 15 states will also show that he is the strongest candidate left.”
A new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows Kasich trailing Trump in Ohio 38 to 32 percent, a slightly larger gap than a similar poll on Feb. 23. Cruz has 16 percent and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio gets 9 percent.
The billionaire is crushing Rubio in Florida, meanwhile, 45 to 22 percent, according to the poll.
“The effort within the Republican Party to stop Donald Trump from winning the presidential nomination appears unlikely to stop him from taking Florida’s delegate-rich winner-take-all primary. But that effort might have a better chance of success in Ohio where Gov. John Kasich is giving ‘The Donald’ a tougher run for his money,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
The primaries in Ohio and Florida are particularly critical for Republicans who are hoping Kasich and Rubio can stop Trump from amassing the 1,237 convention delegates he needs to win the nomination on a first ballot in Cleveland.
Male voters in Ohio back Trump over Kasich 44 to 29 percent while women go for Kasich 36 to 31 percent, Brown said. Cruz and Trump split Ohio’s Tea Party vote while Kasich has the edge among white, evangelicals.
The poll had a margin of error of +/-3.7 percentage points.
Trump and Hillary Clinton are moving closer to a general election face-off with Trump winning Tuesday’s GOP contests in Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii and Clinton breezing to an easy victory in Mississippi’s Democratic primary while suffering an upset defeat in Michigan at the hands of rival Bernie Sanders.
Kasich finished third in Mississippi and fourth in Idaho and Hawaii while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio won no victories in the Republican contests.
Former President Bill Clinton is returning to Ohio for his wife’s presidential effort.
Clinton’s campaign says he will be at her Columbus office on E. Broad Street around midday Wednesday and then head to Dayton for an evening fundraising event.
Hillary Clinton was in Cleveland on Tuesday evening, and said she was looking ahead to a “busy week” in Ohio. She defeated Barack Obama in the 2008 Ohio presidential primary.
The Quinnipiac poll indicated Clinton was favored by 52 percent of those surveyed, to 43 percent for Sanders.
Clinton was favored by women by a wide margin while Sanders was favored by younger voters.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percent.