Poll: Ohio Voters Still Against Union-Busting Bill, But By Slimmer Margin

Gov. John Kasich (R-OH)
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Well, Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s approval rating has moved up a little since the earlier days of his administration when he introduced his initiative to curtail collective bargaining rights as a way to cut government costs. But that very bill, SB 5, still remains unpopular, and with a repeal vote moving forward in November, the prospects of it becoming law are still low, but slightly improved.

Quinnipiac University released a new poll on Ohio Tuesday showing Kasich with a 40 percent approval rating against 49 percent disapproval, which is improved from his dismal 35 – 50 split from the summer. That result mirrors the finding that the Ohio public is warming up to SB 5: now 40 percent of Ohio voters support the new law, up from only 34 percent during the summer. Around 50 percent disapproved in both surveys.

Logically, there’s a major disparity between union households in Ohio and non-union ones. Only 27 percent of those in a union household approve of Kasich’s job performance, and only 25 percent support SB 5, versus 70 percent of those in union households who oppose it. Women voters are also much more likely to disapprove of Kasich, as only 35 percent support him versus 51 against.

But Quinnipiac points out that the real movement in the poll is on SB 5. Supporters of a repeal vote, which will take place November 8th, have seen their margin supporting scuttling the new law decrease as the election date gets closer. “Support for repealing the bill in the November referendum has dropped from a 24-point to a 13-point margin. Backers of SB 5 have only six weeks to make up the difference, although public opinion appears to be moving in their direction,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, in a release on the poll. “The referendum on SB 5 also is a referendum on John Kasich.”

The Quinnipiac poll used live telephone interviews with 1,301 registered Ohio voters conducted from September 20th to the 25th. The poll has a sampling error of 2.7 percent.

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