The Slow Slog to November

In the middle of the protests over SB-5 and the referendum to repeal it, it was difficult to think that Governor Kasich would have an easy path to re-election. Early in 2011 a mere 30% of Ohioans approved of the way Governor Kasich was handling his job.  But times have changed.

A poll from late July shows many things in the Governor's favor. Now, 55% of Ohioan approve of his job performance. Sixty percent of Ohioans are satisfied with the way things are going in Ohio today and 50% think the Governor deserves re-election. On top of that Kasich has a +16 favorability rating. This good news for the Governor helps explain his 12 point advantage over his challenger Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald.

Bad news for FitzGerald is good news for Kasich. The worst of bad news for FitzGerald is that 65% do not know enough about him to have an opinion. This could have been good news for FitzGerald except that the news surrounding him and his campaign has only been negative. A big win in November 2014 would make Kasich an interest candidate, either Presidential or VP, come 2016.

Now that we are less than 80 days from Election Day, the FitzGerald campaign is in dire need of a bus tour and media blitz - social media, broadcast, anything - if his campaign has any chance of persuading swing voters to support him let alone getting diehard Democrats to get to the polls.

I'm not in the business of giving advice to politicians, so maybe FitzGerald should take some advice from Jerry Seinfeld: "If every instinct you have is wrong, then the opposite would have to be right."