A statewide survey conducted by the Strongsville, Ohio GOP asked respondents “If a qualified Republican ran against Governor DeWine in the Republican primary, for whom would you vote?”
Only 23.8% said they would vote for DeWine, while an unnamed “qualified Republican” would get 39.2% of the vote. Thirty-six percent were not sure and 1% would support an “other” candidate.
“That’s not necessarily the spot you want to be in if you’re going into a primary,” said Strongsville GOP President Shannon Burns. “We had heard talk from legislators and other stakeholders about the Governor and his high popularity – so we wanted to test it.”
Burns noted “and when you look at the number of people surveyed, 8339 likely Republican primary voters – that’s significant. For perspective, that’s 10-times to 15-times higher than the number of people who were being polled (around 600 to 800 people) by the polling services going into the last primary.”
The survey also shows 61% oppose (56% strongly) any additional closures for restaurants, bars and fitness centers. while 61% support mask mandates.
When asked “Do you approve or disapprove of the job that Governor DeWine is doing?” The result was:
Strongly Approve 31.1%
Somewhat Approve 28.5%
Somewhat Disapprove 16.6%
Strongly Disapprove 23.8%
The full survey can be viewed here. It was conducted November 16-17.
On November 17 DeWine imposed a 21-day curfew from 10p.m. to 5a.m. after a week earlier threatening another statewide shutdown of restaurants, bars and gyms.
The curfew applies to retail establishments and indoor dining but contains exemptions for those traveling to work, picking up takeout food, seeking medical care or experiencing an emergency.
The effort is designed to slow down Ohioans and came as a compromise after DeWine is said to have been preparing to shut down the entire state for four to six weeks.
“We’re not shutting down, we’re slowing down. The curfew is aimed at helping to reduce the number of person-to-person contacts because the only way a virus lives is when it goes from one person to another. We have to flatten this curve again and get this under control,” said DeWine during a COVID briefing delivered on November 17.
The curfew came days after a revised statewide mask mandate was announced, which would carry with it the standing-up of a team of retail enforces inside the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation department – charged with spying on businesses, levying warnings, fines and shutdowns.
The implications of the survey stretch beyond the Governor, particularly those who are seen as to soft in their legislative opposition. As Burns noted “I think it’s safe to assume that any elected Republican could be open to a challenge from the right given these statistics that we found.”
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Jack Windsor is Managing Editor and an Investigative Reporter at The Ohio Star. Windsor is also an Investigative Reporter at WMFD-TV. Follow Jack on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
