Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Awwww, SB 5 heading for defeat

Are Ohio voters going to give poor widdle Johnny Kasich a big boo-boo on Nov. 8? It's looking that way.

Public Policy Polling shows voters will overwhelmingly reject SB5, a bill to destroy government unions. Here are the details:
Labor is poised for a big victory in Ohio next month- PPP's newest poll of the state finds that voters intend to reject Senate Bill 5 by a 56-36 margin. Although that margin is consistent with what we found in the state earlier this year, when we polled Ohio in August the support for repealing SB 5 had tightened to 50-39. These numbers suggest that momentum is back on the side of the groups trying to kill the bill.
We especially like this part:
The rejection of Senate Bill 5 would be a huge defeat for John Kasich, and Kasich continues to be the most unpopular Governor PPP has polled on anywhere in the country in 2011. Just 37% of voters approve of the job he's doing to 54% who disapprove. He has an unusually high number of Republicans disenchanted with him- 23%- and he attracts little crossover support from Democrats to make up for that, with only 10% of them approving of him. Independents split against him by a 49/43 margin as well.
Given Kasich's unpopularity it's no surprise that Ohio voters continue to feel significant buyer's remorse about their choice for Governor last year. If they could do it over again 54% of voters say they would pick Ted Strickland to only 40% who would stick with Kasich.
Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa has been fighting against SB5 since the spring. Lately he's been barnstorming the state to kill the measure. Fox News (yup!) reported:
The nation's most famous union leader was in the Cincinnati on Tuesday. He urged hundreds of union workers from around the Tri-State to repeal Issue Two.
James Hoffa, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, delivered remarks to nearly a thousand union members and opponents of Senate Bill 5. Workers from UFCW Local 75 organized the event.
Hoffa declared the debate on the issue a war. He spoke to the crowd for a few minutes on Tuesday evening in front of the Teamsters 100 headquarters in Evendale.
In the past, Hoffa has said SB5 would lead to layoffs, cut wages, and even ship some jobs overseas.
"They're coming after us," said Hoffa. "This is about getting rid of the middle class. This is about lowering the wages of average people who have fought and worked hard to make Ohio what it is."