COLUMBUS, Ohio – Governor John Kasich’s approval rating among Ohio voters is at an all-time high: 53 percent, the first time in two years that he tops 50 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.
This compares to his 42 percent approval rating in December.
The survey was conducted between Feb. 21 and 26, after Kasich’s two-year budget proposal with its income tax cuts and expansions of the state sales tax and Medicaid coverage.
Forty-five percent of Ohioans say they approve of how Kasich is handling the budget, while 39 percent disapprove; 45 percent believe the budget is fair to people like them.
Kasich has also opened some distance between himself and his likely opponents in the 2014 reelection race.
“Not that long ago, Democrats were licking their lips at the prospect of taking on an unpopular governor who had a disapproval rating in the 50s. Now his job disapproval rating is just 32 percent and his chances of re-election appear to be much better than they were thought to be as recently as December,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, who also pointed out that Kasich does not get 50 percent of votes when compared to his four opponents.
Kasich holds six- to 10-point leads against Cuyahoga County Executive Ed Fitzgerald, US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray, Cong. Tim Ryan and former cong. Betty Sutton.
Much of the gap can be attributed to a lack of name recognition among the challengers. The number of voters who don’t know enough about them ranged from 62 to 80 percent.
Voters say that Kasich deserves reelection by a margin of 46 to 36 percent.
Ohio’s US senators, Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Rob Portman, both get positive reviews from voters: 44 -24 percent for Portman, 51- 33 percent for Brown.
The survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.