An independent poll released this morning shows that while Ohio Gov. John Kasich is the slight favorite for the Republican presidential nomination among Ohio GOP voters, he barely registers with Republicans in other key states.
The Quinnipiac University poll showed that Kasich as the favorite of 14 percent of the Ohio Republican polls, it is not much of a lead. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker had 11 percent support, while former Florida governor Jeb Bush and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky are at 10 percent. Eight other potential GOP contenders finished under 10 percentage points.
Quinnipiac’s polling institute, which regularly polls voters in key battleground states, had Kasich dead last in Florida and tied for ninth place with three percent support in Pennsylvania, his native state.
Bush led the pack in Florida with 32 percent support, followed by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida with 15 percent. Bush had a slim two percentage point lead over New Jersey governor Chris Christie among Pennsylvania Republicans.
“Taken as a whole, there is no clear leader for the Republican presidential nomination in these three critical swing states,’’ Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac Poll, said in a release.
On the Democratic side, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton is the clear favorite of Democrats, with 51 percent support in Ohio. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warner had 14 percent support, while Vice President Joe Biden had seven percent support.
The poll was conducted Sunday among 943 registered Ohio voters – 28 percent of them Democrats, 26 percent Republicans, 32 percent independents and 13 percent who would not say. The margin of error among the Republican voters is plus or minus 5.3 percentage points.
