Obama not helping Ohio Democrats, polls show

President Obama has invested considerable political capital in the state of Ohio, as shown by his 11th visit to the state this weekend to campaign for Gov. Ted Strickland and other Buckeye Democrats. But two polls released Tuesday show that voters in the state appear to have soured on the leadership of both men.

A Quinnipiac University poll finds Strickland trailing his Republican opponent, former Rep. John Kasich, 51%-41%. That’s largely unchanged from two weeks ago, when Kasich led 50%-41%. A second poll from Fox News conducted by Pulse Opinion Research shows Kasich ahead 49%-43%, also largely unchanged from their last survey a week earlier.

The economy is the major issue driving voters in the Buckeye State. According to Quinnipiac’s survey, only 19% of respondents said the state’s economy is getting better, while 36% said it is getting worse and 45% say it is staying the same. Strickland’s overall job rating is 39% approve, 54% disapprove, but 57% disapprove of his handling of the economy, and 52% of voters think Kasich will do a better job on the issue.

Obama’s efforts to boost Strickland may also be backfiring. Most voters — 58% — say his support will have no impact on their vote, while 32% actually say it actually makes them less likely to back him. Obama’s job rating in the state is only slightly better than Strickland’s; 40% approve, while 56% disapprove.

“Obama’s 63% disapproval rating among independent voters is an extremely heavy anchor around Ted Strickland’s neck,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Fox found similar numbers. That survey also showed half of Ohio voters felt Obama administration policies have hurt the state’s economy, while only one in four say they’ve helped. If Obama was on the ballot, 52% of respondents said they’d support an unnamed Republican challenger, while 39% would vote to re-elect him. Obama carried the state by a 52%-47% margin in 2008.

Both surveys were conducted just as the president came to the state on Sunday. He and first lady Michelle Obama held an event for Strickland in Cleveland before drawing a crowd of 35,000 for a “Moving America Forward” rally on the campus of Ohio State University. Quinnipiac surveyed 1,188 likely voters from Oct. 12-17, while Fox surveyed 1,000 likely voters on Oct. 16. The margin of error in each survey was about 3%.

The Strickland campaign disputed the Quinnipiac poll, saying its internal survey showed the governor with a small lead.

“We have 14 days to make our closing argument to Ohio voters. In the meantime, we have seen that we are outpacing Republicans in terms of early voting and are confident that we have the get-out-the-vote apparatus to continue this trend on Election Day,” campaign spokesperson Lis Smith said in a memo to reporters.

mmemoli@tribune.com

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