Here are the numbers from the just released poll from Quinnipiac:
Ohio voters disapprove 46 - 30 percent of the way Gov. John Kasich is handling his job, with women disapproving 48 - 25 percent and men disapproving 44 - 37 percent, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Voters say 53 - 36 percent that Gov. Kasich's budget is unfair to them....
...Voters oppose legislation working its way through the Ohio legislature that would limit the ability of public workers to collectively bargain, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe- ack) University survey finds. But the question wording has some influence on voter response:
- Half of those surveyed were asked about a bill that limited "collective bargaining," and oppose the measure 48 - 41 percent;
- The other half were asked about a bill that limited "collective bargaining rights," and oppose that measure 54 - 35 percent....
According to Quinnipiac, Kasich's approval rating among Independents is at 25% and at 11% among Democrats. Independents are very important to Kasich and without their support he could not have won, and cannot expect to be re-elected without their support.
Full results and more analysis can be read at Quinnipiac. No matter how you look at it, Ohioans are not happy with Kasich. Women in Ohio seem downright disgusted, in my humble opinion.
Why would women have such a 25% approval rating of Kasich? Here is a short list of problems that Kasich created regarding women voters:
--- lack of women in his cabinet and in leadership positions,
--- severe cuts to public education,
--- cuts to hospitals designated for children,
--- cuts to programs that support the working poor,
--- cuts to nursing homes and the elderly,
--- his verbal attacks and proposed legislation that goes after the Middle Class,
--- cuts to programs that help at risk students,
--- saying that his wife and daughters represent the opinions of women in the state,
--- his continuing attacks on teachers, and his efforts to "...break the backs of organized labor in the schools..." (see Dispatch)
It is possible that most Ohio women remember this little snippet from the DaytonDailyNews which included Kasich's response to questions about a lack of diversity in his cabinet:
“My wife makes all the minor decisions about where we live, what we eat, where we go, where we vacation and what we do on a daily basis,” he said shortly after winning election in November. “So, she’s in charge of the family and she’s done a fantastic job.”
State Sen. Shirley Smith, D-Cleveland, said it appears Kasich is taking the same approach when it comes to assignments in his administration. His four female department heads lead staffs that average 760 workers and have budgets that average $441 million. His 17 male department heads’ budgets average $1.9 billion and their staffs average 2,500.
“That is his mindset. He feels like he wants to leave all the small things to the women. He is Neanderthal in his thinking,” Smith said. “He is stuck in time.”
I'm surprised that Kasich's approval rating is as high as 25% among Ohio women. Somehow, I thought it would be lower than this.