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Did Ohio Gov. Kasich Hurt His Prospects In Backing Controversial Labor Law?

Ohio Gov. John Kasich in March, 2011.
Jay LaPrete
/
AP
Ohio Gov. John Kasich in March, 2011.

Ohio voters on Tuesday resoundingly repealed a controversial law that would have severely limited collective bargaining for public employees, a law Republican Gov. John Kasich made the centerpiece of his legislative agenda this spring.

Voters not only disliked Kasich's law — 61 percent voted to repeal it, 39 percent supported keeping it — they also have grown to dislike Kasich. The governor's approval rating was at 36 percent in an October Quinnipiac poll.

So did the governor go too far, damaging his political prospects in the process?

Our NPR StateImpact team created these interactive maps that allow you to compare the county-by-county results in Ohio's 2010 gubernatorial race to the results from Issue 2's vote on Tuesday.NPR's StateImpact Ohio notes:

The six counties that were Kasich's biggest fans in 2010 were the biggest fans of SB 5 in 2011.

But every other county that voted for Kasich in 2010 said "no" to SB 5.

The political stakes are interesting for the state legislature, as well. Republicans outnumber Democrats 82 to 50 in the state's general assembly. But that means a lot of Republican lawmakers represent union-heavy districts that usually elect Democrats. If the passage of SB 5 this year is seen as an overreach, those lawmakers seats may be at risk next year.

Elise Hu is the digital editor of NPR's StateImpact effort, which focuses on government reporting in the states. Read more about it.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Elise Hu is a host-at-large based at NPR West in Culver City, Calif. Previously, she explored the future with her video series, Future You with Elise Hu, and served as the founding bureau chief and International Correspondent for NPR's Seoul office. She was based in Seoul for nearly four years, responsible for the network's coverage of both Koreas and Japan, and filed from a dozen countries across Asia.