Ohio Governor Kasich's Approval Rating Takes a Nosedive

Ohio voters are showing signs of buyer's remorse regarding their 2010 election of tea party Republican Gov. John Kasich. A new poll by Quinnipiac University finds that Buckeye State voters polled disapprove of Kasich's job performance 48-30 percent, with 28 percent undecided.

This is somewhat unremarkable, given the level of controversy Kasich's budget proposals have generated.

Since taking office this year, Kasich has proposed making deep cuts to the state budget, cuts which critics argue would have the most impact on the state's poorest families. He has also pushed to strip the state's public employee unions of their collective bargaining rights with a bill that, unlike one in Wisconsin, would not exempt public safety and fire unions.

And it can also be argued that, hey, this is only Kasich's second month in a four-year term, so he has plenty of time to climb out of the hole of public opinion, right?

Well, that's true. However, it's certainly interesting to look at how far the governor's approval rating has fallen since the first time Quinnipiac polled Ohioans on his job performance, one week after he took office in January.

Now, I realize that opinions of someone's performance only one week into a term are almost guaranteed to be based entirely on party affiliation or some other bias. But that's just what makes this statistic interesting to me, because as you can see, the percentage of people who approve of Kasich's performance hasn't changed a smidge - he still has the same 30 percent who like what he's doing. However, the percentage of people who disapprove of him two months later has risen dramatically - from just 22 percent in mid-January to 46 percent today. And the percentage of people expressing no opinion has been cut in half.

Even more edifying is looking at the party/ideological breakdown of the job approval question, then and now. Here's what we had in January:

Unsurprisingly, one week into Kasich's term, Republicans approved of his performance 55-6 percent (with 39 percent undecided) and Democrats disapproved 35-14 percent (with 50 percent undecided). Independents were clearly giving him time to prove himself, approving 31-18 percent and 51 percent undecided..

Today, however, it's rather a different story:

It's no shock that Democratic disapproval almost doubled in the past two months, but look at the Republican disapproval - it's tripled, rising from 6 to 18 percent, while Republican approval only increased by 8 percent. But that's not the most telling statistic. For that, you have to look at the shift in opinion among independents, over half of whom were undecided two months ago. Today, only 25 percent are undecided, with disapproval nearly tripling from 18 percent in January to 49 percent now.

Why is this significant? Well, Kasich didn't exactly roll into the governorship on a massive voter mandate. He defeated incumbent Ted Strickland by a narrow 3 percentage points. In a race that was heavily polarized along party lines, support from independents definitely tipped the scales toward a Kasich victory. Now it appears that a lot of those independent voters are less than happy with the results they are seeing thus far.

As a Democrat, I'm happy to see that the bloom has fallen from the Kasich rose bush so quickly and emphatically. As a realist, I'm fully aware that these are early days yet, and it's entirely possible the governor will reclaim some support as time moves forward.

But as a human being, I mostly feel a compassionate sadness for the people in Ohio who are being or will be hurt by Kasich's reign over the state. You see, Ohio doesn't have any legal provisions for recalling its governor, or any other elected state official. It doesn't matter how much damage he does to working people or the poor or the economy of the state. It doesn't matter how much further his job approval plummets or how angry he makes independent voters, or even his own Republican voters. Ohio is stuck with John Kasich for four long years.

And while regular readers are probably tired of reading this sentiment on this blog, I'm going to say it again and again for as long as I think it's helpful: This is why elections matter. This is why it's important to vote. Even when you're disillusioned. Even when you're unexcited. Even when you think it's a choice between the lesser of two evils.

If you don't vote, and you end up in a plight like that of Ohioans, you have to bear responsibility for making that happen. And you might wind up being responsible for four years of regressive, abusive political carnage.