Rasmussen: Kasich Leads Strickland By Seven

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


A recent Rasmussen poll shows former GOP Congressman (and Lehman Bros. banker) John Kasich leading incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland by seven points in the Ohio governor’s race. I write about this race a lot because it’s a real bellwether. Strickland was elected with 60 percent of the vote in 2006. He’s not quite as unpopular as other Democratic governors in the region—Jennifer Granholm (Mich.), Jim Doyle (Wisc.), Ed Rendell (Pa.), and Chet Culver (Iowa) all have lower average approval ratings than Strickland, who is hovering in the low-to-mid-40s. Kasich, meanwhile, is not a perfect candidate—he has spent time in ever-unpopular Washington and worked at a Wall Street bank. The stakes are high: Both candidates are going to spend huge amounts of money, and the winner will  control a crucial swing state when President Obama runs for reelection in 2012. 

The winner of the election will naturally have a big hand in Congressional redistricting following the 2010 census. In addition, Ohio’s legislative redistricting commission is composed of the governor, secretary of state, auditor, and two members of the legislature. Whichever party has two of the three non-legislative seats tends to control the redistricting.*

In any case, if Rasmussen is right, and Kasich (who has lower name recognition than Strickland) is already pulling ahead, this might not turn out to be the blockbuster I imagined it would be. If a former Wall Street banker is going to beat an incumbent governor in a walk, the Dems are in even bigger trouble in 2010 than they realize.

*This paragraph has been edited to clarify the distinction between Congressional and legislative redistricting.

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate