A new Quinnipiac poll out today shows that repeal of the anti-union SB5 in Ohio has very nice support from the voters:
Ohio voters support 57 – 32 percent the repeal of SB 5, the centerpiece of Gov. John Kasich’s legislative program, as the margin against the governor’s measure has almost doubled in the last month, from 51 – 38 percent for repeal September 27, a 13-point margin, to a 25-point margin in today’s Quinnipiac University poll.
If this repeal passes it could be a big boost for labor in this country. Perhaps people are starting to realize that the anti-union fervor the right has been fueling is nothing more than a strawman to distract from real budgetary problems that plague the states. A perfect example of this lies within Ohio. While Kasich is pointing to the unions as being a big source of budget problems, the people are distracted from other wasteful spending. How about Governor Kasich increasing the salary of the governor’s staff by almost double upon entering office? Sure the 1/4 million that costs Ohio taxpayers per year may not seem like much, but this kind of cronyism is exactly what builds up and leads to budget problems.
Ohio is also feeling the very costly affects of broken campaign promises. Governor Kasich and a Republican lead state legislature came into power in January of this year. Since then they have spent on their time working on extreme ideological legislation, and while Ohio continues to hemorrhage jobs, have done nothing to stimulate the state’s economy. SB5 is a perfect example of this. It does nothing to create jobs or stimulate the economy and serves only as red meat to the most extreme parts of their party.
It looks like the people of Ohio are realizing this. Governor Kasich is one of the most disliked governors in the country and his numbers continue to plummet:
Gov. Kasich’s standing is in the same negative neighborhood as SB 5, with Ohio voters disapproving of his job performance 52 – 36 percent, down from 49 – 40 percent disapproval in September’s survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University.
Perhaps if Kasich spent time actually trying to create jobs or stimulate the state economy he would be more liked. Instead he has decided to become the biggest partisan in the state and that’s pushing away independents and even some more moderate Republicans. Instead he knows he is sitting on a guaranteed job for the next 3 years (unlike other Ohioans) and that pretty much gives him a license to do whatever he wants. Maybe the next state initiative should be a recall mechanism so we can keep our elected leaders in check.