Ohio's governor's race between Kasich and FitzGerald is neck-and-neck again, polls show

From left: Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, the democratic nominee for Ohio governor, Republican Ohio Governor John Kasich, and Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern

By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief. Kathy Wray Coleman is a community activist and 20-year investigative journalist who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio. 

Cleveland Urban News.Com and The Kathy Wray Coleman Online News Blog .Com, Ohio's leading Black digital newspaper and Black digital news blog. Contact us by email at editor@clevelandurbannews.com and advertising @clevelandurbannews.com, and by phone at (216) 659-0473 (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)

COLUMBUS, Ohio-As the Nov. 4 election for Ohio governor looms Republican Incumbent Gov John Kasich and Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, the Democratic nominee, are neck-and-neck, polls show.

According to a Public Policy Polling poll that the Democrats began touting early this week,  Kasich is beating FitzGerald 45 percent to 44 percent among likely voters. 

The poll  shows a serious trend that some say should alarm the Republicans. 

Kasich, whose campaign war chest was at $9.3 million to FitzGerald's $836,000, according to campaign finance reports filed last month, led FitzGerald by 15 percentage points just in May, a Quinnipiac University poll showed.

Polls for the governor's race have vacillated in the past year. A  poll commissioned by Freedom to Marry Ohio conducted between December 6 and 8 of 1,011 of Ohio voters by PPP, one of the most accurate pollsters in America, found that if the election were held then, Kasich would have carried 40 percent of the vote, followed by FitzGerald at 38 percent.  FitzGerald held a 13 percent lead over Kasich in that poll with Independent voters.

“With more than 427,000 Ohioans out of work and the state’s unemployment worse than the nation’s for the first time in three years, voters are tired of Governor Kasich’s policies just benefiting the rich,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern told Cleveland Urban News.Com at the time of the December poll. “This poll shows what every struggling middle-class family already knows, John Kasich is vulnerable going into 2014 because under his leadership Ohio’s economy is headed in the wrong direction while the rest of the nation recovers.”

A February Quinnipiac poll shows a five point gap with Kasich leading FitzGerald, 43 percent to 38 percent, and the May Quinnipiac poll that  reveals a 15 point lead has Kaisch winning over Fitzgerald, 50 percent to 35 percent. (www.clevelandurbannews.com) / (www.kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com)