Quinnipiac (1/29-2/2, registered voters):
Ted Strickland (D-inc): 56
John Kasich (R): 26Ted Strickland (D-inc): 54
Mike DeWine (R): 32
(MoE: ±2.9%)Mike DeWine (R): 37
John Kasich (R): 22
Kevin Coughlin (R): 3
(MoE: ±5.1%)
Ted Strickland is starting to look fairly secure in his 2010 bid for re-election as Ohio governor, posting double-digit margins against two top-tier challengers. Strickland is well-liked (60 favorable/19 unfavorable), while ex-Sen. Mike DeWine inspires a whole lot of “meh” and people seem to simply not remember anything about ex-Rep. John Kasich (21 favorable/6 unfavorable, with 71% don’t know). Although Kasich has been the name most closely linked to this race, he loses the primary to DeWine, probably on the strength of the two-term senator’s statewide name recognition, although he still fares better than State Sen. Kevin Coughlin, the only declared candidate at this time.
You may remember that a few weeks ago, a PPP poll gave Strickland only a 6-point margin over Kasich for 2010. One of these polls must be way off. (Considering that the PPP poll found only 52% African-American support for Strickland, my money is on PPP being more of an outlier.)
If Strickland is indeed trying to clear the field for Lee Fisher, having the governor winning his election by a whooping margin will only help Fisher come next November. I have to believe that Strickland’s destruction of Ken Blackwell played a role is boasting Sherry Brown down ballot in 2006.
Are we lining up a strong challenger for that one republican held Ohio statewide job (Auditor I think)? I believe that job has a role in redistricting so I’d hope we dislodge the last repub from office in 2010.