Ohio Gov. John Kasich optimistic about Issue 2 despite new poll numbers

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio Gov. John Kasich remains optimistic that Ohio voters will uphold the collective bargaining reforms of Senate Bill 5 by voting "yes" in two weeks on Issue 2, but he acknowledges it won’t be easy.

“To a large degree it’s been emotion vs. facts and that’s always a tough fight,” Kasich said.

The governor’s comments come as a new Quinnipiac University Poll shows those favoring repeal holding a 25 point, 57-32 lead.

“I don’t pay a lot of attention to polls,” said Kasich, who will continue to make the case to voters over the next two weeks why reforms are needed for growth.

“There’s a lot of emotion here it requires a lot of change and I’ve been out all over explaining to people that if we want our communities to be in a position where they’re more fertile for job creation then we have to control costs at the local level.”

That he says was the intent of SB 5, to give local communities the tools needed to balance their budgets without raising taxes or making cuts. Regardless of what happens with Issue 2 he says that focus will remain.

“I think at the end of the day what we’re going to say to local communities is if you want to control your costs we want to help you. It will be up to them to tell us what they think can help them to do better.”

“There is no state bailout; I mean I think a lot of people say ‘well we’ll just let the state bail us out.’ Well the state doesn’t have money to bail anybody out we have to keep working to make sure that we have an environment where companies want to come and we’ve been pretty darn successful so far.”

That’s not to say he’s conceding anything at this point.

“You know when the Browns are down 21-7 in the fourth quarter I don’t think they quit,” he said. “I mean you just get out there and make your best case and you let the chips fall where they may and you see where you are.”