Ahead of the Ohio primary, a
Rasmussen poll shows Democrat
Ted Strickland solidly ahead of the two leading Republican gubernatorial candidates, Ken Blackwell and Jim Petro.
According to a Zogby/Wall Street Journal poll, Sherrod Brown leads Senate incumbent Mike DeWine, 45.9 percent to 37 percent. Rasmussen expects to release its poll numbers on the Brown/DeWine race this weekend.
No word yet on the all important race for Secretary of State, which oversees Ohio's elections.
Here are excerpts from the
Rasmussen story.
The latest Rasmussen Reports survey of the Ohio race for governor shows likely Democratic nominee Congressman Ted Strickland leading by at least ten percentage points against each Republican most likely to capture the GOP nomination on May 2.
Strickland leads Secretary of State Ken Blackwell 50% to 40%. He leads Attorney General Jim Petro 47% to 34%.
Strickland has been steadily gaining ground. Our February survey showed Strickland leading Petro by seven points. In January Strickland led him by only five points. Now, Petro is 13 points behind. In January Strickland had only four points on Blackwell, which by February he had widened to a 12-point lead. Blackwell recovers a couple points in the current survey.
The Senate race is proving more of a nail-biter. Results on that race will be released this weekend.
Strickland has likely benefited from the acrimony between Republican camps. In recent ads Blackwell has sought to lump Petro with tainted Governor Bob Taft, convicted last year of ethics violations.
Petro has called the ads "false and vicious." If the lumping with Taft succeeds, though, he has reason to be apprehensive. The governor currently enjoys only a 23% job approval rating among likely voters. Seventy-six percent (76%) disapprove; 50% strongly disapprove.
Detailed information from the Zogby/Wall Street Journal poll is available only to subscribers. The Senate race numbers cited above are from a press release issued by the Ohio Democratic Party.
Ohio's Secretary of State race is between Democrat Jennifer Brunner and Republican Greg Hartmann. The word on the Republican candidate is, "if you like Ken Blackwell, you'll love Greg Hartmann."
The election outcomes in both 2004 and 2005 are, at best, suspicious, yet the MSM continues to ignore the mounting evidence of vote tampering here. I'll compile some information on that score for a later post. Suffice it to say the Secretary of State race is a must-win.