COLUMBUS — While there’s still doubt that Ohio Republicans would back Gov. John Kasich for the GOP presidential nomination, a poll released today suggests the state as a whole would get behind him in a hypothetical matchup with Democrat Hillary Clinton in November.
The latest Quinnipiac Poll shows that Mr. Kasich would beat the former secretary of state by 17 percentage points and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by 19 points.
Other polls have already shown Mr. Kasich as a potential strong contender against the two Democrats nationally. It’s getting the Republican nomination that’s proving for more elusive, given the results of the first four primaries in nation. Mr. Kasich finished second in New Hampshire but has performed poorly in Iowa, South Carolina, and Nevada.
RELATED CONTENT: Trump leads Kasich by 5 percent in Ohio
One of the cases Mr., Kasich has made to Republicans nationally is that he could deliver the all-important state of Ohio in November. A Quinnipiac Poll released Tuesday had billionaire Donald Trump up on Mr. Kasich by 5 percentage points, just within the margin of error.
“The faceoff in Ohio between the two front-runners, former Secretary Clinton and businessman Donald Trump is too close to call," said Peter A. Brown assistant director of the Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University Poll. "Despite their delegate leads in their respective nomination fights, these leaders find themselves with similarly strongly negative net favorability ratings, much more so than any other Democratic or Republican contender."
Mr. Kasich would perform better than all of the other potential Republican contenders against the Democrats among his fellow Ohioans. The poll shows he would receive 54 percent of the vote to Ms. Clinton’s 37 percent, performing particularly well among independents. He would defeat Mr. Sanders 54 percent to 35 percent, if the election were held today.
In other, much closer potential matchups:
— Mr. Trump leads Ms. Clinton 44 percent to 42 percent but is tied with Mr. Sanders at 44 percent.
— Texas Sen. Ted Cruz leads Ms. Clinton 46 percent to 42 percent but trails Mr. Sanders 44 percent to 42 percent.
— Florida Sen. Marco Rubio leads Ms. Clinton 47 percent to 42 percent but trails Mr. Sanders 44 percent to 42 percent.
All of these other contests are within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, making them statistical ties.
The Kasich campaign jumped on the results, describing the candidate as "thumping" Ms. Clinton and "burning" Mr. Sanders.
Meanwhile, Democratic former Gov. Ted Strickland is locked in a statistical tie with incumbent Republican Sen. Rob Portman in the polls, but the race is tightening. According to the poll, Mr. Strickland would get 44 percent of the vote to Mr. Portman’s 42 percent. Independents lean in Mr. Strickland’s favor.
The same poll shows Mr. Portman would run away with the race if Cincinnati City Councilman PG Sittenfeld is the Democratic nominee. Mr. Portman gets 48 percent to Mr. Sittenfeld’s 29 percent.
“If the contest remains this close, the outcome of the presidential race in Ohio could make the difference in the Senate contest," Mr. Brown said.
The poll questioned 1,539 registered Ohio voters between Feb. 16-20, a period that ended just as South Carolina was voting and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was withdrawing from the race.
First Published February 24, 2016, 3:03 p.m.
