"Gov. John Kasich is sinking lower in the eyes of Ohio voters, dropping from an 11-point approval deficit two months ago to a 15-point deficit today," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "Even after the state budget has been approved as he promised without raising taxes, and even though the Quinnipiac University poll finds that 63 percent say they favor such an approach, Gov. Kasich's name remains mud in the eyes of the Ohio electorate.
"Voters may say 2-1 they wanted him to balance the budget just through spending cuts rather than with a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, but they don't like the cuts that he and the Legislature approved. By 50 - 32 percent, voters say the budget is unfair to people like them. When voters think a politician is treating them unfairly, that's not good for the politician's political health."
Kasich's job performance gets a 66 - 19 percent approval from Republicans, but disapproval is 76 - 12 percent among Democrats and 48 - 34 percent among independent voters. The depth of his problem is evidenced by his split 43 - 42 percent rating among white evangelical Christians, typically a very pro-Republican group.
The numbers on the proposed effort to repeal SB5 limiting collective bargaining in a November referendum are similar to those on Kasich personally. Republicans oppose repeal 56 - 35 percent, while repeal wins 75 - 14 percent support from Democrats and 52 - 33 percent support from independent voters.
"Kasich has until 2014 when he presumably will face the voters, to turn his political fortunes around, but the timeline for the vote on SB5, which is obviously a referendum on the governor's agenda, is much shorter," said Brown. "A loss on SB5 would be a no confidence vote on the governor from the voters of Ohio."
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