Poll: Ohioans shooting dirty looks towards Taft

Gov. Bob Taft isn't getting a lot of love right now from Ohioans.

The number of voters who disapprove of the job Taft is doing reached 50 percent, a new high, according to a new Ohio Poll, sponsored by the University of Cincinnati. Negativity toward an Ohio governor hasn't been that high in almost 20 years.

"I don't like what he's doing," Scott England, owner of Fort Ball Pizza Palace in Fremont, said of Taft.

Click on the "Read More..." link below for more.

Taft's 40% approval rating is unchanged from a poll taken in February. His disapproval numbers rose for the sixth straight poll, and now stand at 50 percent.

We'll be keeping an eye on some other interesting numbers, to see if they turn into trends in future polls:

• For the first time, Taft's approval rating among Republicans has dropped below 50 percent.
• Blacks are giving Taft higher approval numbers (50 percent) than whites.
• The older people get, the less they seem to like Taft. Of those under age 30, 52 percent approve of Taft. For those age 65 and over, it's 29 percent.

The Ohio Poll surveyed 840 adults and has a margin of error of 3.4 percent. The survey was taken through mid-April, shortly after the House passed its version of the budget (and House Bill 12!).

OFCC PAC Commentary:
While the media is likely accurate in attributing much of the decline in popularity to his failure to keep a campaign promise concerning tax increases, we think it important to note that something else is also happening that is likely to be playing against him: Taft's opposition to the self-defense rights of Ohioans.

Two campaign promises broken in the span of a matter of months, and it's no wonder why term-limited Bob Taft is fast becoming the lamest of ducks.

Click here to read the entire editorial in the Coshocton Tribune.