Governor John Kasich and Donald Trump are viewed favorably by Ohio voters.
But little Marco Rubio is having issues.
The Florida senator is viewed less favorably than even Mitt Romney.
This comes after Rubio’s famous penis jokes and his PAC’s KKK ads against Donald Trump.
Net fav with Ohio GOP
Kasich +48
Trump +4
Cruz -5
(Romney -17)
Rubio -18 https://t.co/eoNZGcSKgN— Will Jordan (@williamjordann) March 7, 2016
Trump is leading Kasich in the latest PPP poll in Ohio.
PPP’s newest Ohio poll finds a very close race on the Republican side- with Donald Trump slightly ahead but perhaps more reasons within the numbers to think that John Kasich will end up winning the state.
Trump leads with 38% to 35% for Kasich, 15% for Ted Cruz, and just 5% for Marco Rubio. The race is pretty fluid though, with only 69% of voters saying they’re committed to their current choice, and 31% saying they might change their minds between now and next Tuesday.
If voters do change their minds- especially supporters of Cruz and Rubio who appear to have little chance of being competitive in the state- Kasich is likely to be the beneficiary. Kasich leads Trump 55/40 if voters had to choose just between the two of them. Rubio voters move to Kasich 75/16 over Trump, Cruz voters do so 69/25, and undecideds would pick him 54/11 if Kasich and Trump ended up being the two candidates they chose between. Kasich is also by far the most broadly popular of the candidates in Ohio with a 70/22 favorability rating- only Trump at 48/44 is also on positive ground among the remaining candidates. If more strategic voting happens in the next week, Kasich is likely to be the beneficiary.
Kasich leads Trump with both moderates (43/39) and ‘somewhat conservative’ (39/36) voters. Trump is ahead because he has 40% with ‘very conservative’ voters to 25% for Cruz with Kasich coming in third at 23% . There’s also a gender split in the race with Kasich up 36/33 among women but Trump making up for it with a 42/34 advantage among men.