SB5 fails in Ohio
This past Tuesday, voters across the country cast their ballots for various elections and issues at the state and local level. Perhaps the biggest news from this election cycle was Ohio voters’ emphatic rejection of an anti-union bill commonly known as SB 5.
SB 5 was controversially passed in late March of this year by the Republican-controlled legislature and signed into law shortly after by Republican Governor Jon Kasich.
Similar to the anti-union legislation passed in Wisconsin earlier this year that led huge protests in Madison and recall elections, SB 5 is designed to limit the rights of unions of public workers. It prohibits public workers from striking and limits their ability to collectively bargain.
Within a week of SB 5 being signed into law, opponents to the bill began gathering signatures in order to have a referendum of the bill on the ballot this November. In late June, opponents of SB 5 submitted almost 1.3 million signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State, Jon Husted, well over the total needed to get the referendum on the ballot. A month later, the signatures were verified and Husted certified the referendum.
The bill was voted on this past Tuesday and SB 5 was defeated by a resounding 22 points. Pre-election polls showed that the bill was heading towards a big defeat, but that doesn’t undermine the significance of the demise of SB 5.
This referendum shows that Ohio, which is almost always a key swing state in presidential election, appears to being shifting back towards the Democratic Party after voting very Republican in 2010. Kasich has seen his disapproval rating hover around 50 percent since March. Also, poll numbers coming out of Ohio after SB 5 was rejected show President Obama with comfortable leads over all possible GOP candidates.
SB 5 may have always been destined to fail, but that inevitable failure is very good news for Obama and the Democrats.
GOP Presidential Race Still Evolving
Although many would have expected Mitt Romney to be far ahead of all other challengers in the polls by now, he isn’t. Herman Cain is still leading in most polls, but he slowly dropping. Mitt Romney continues to be near the top of most GOP primary polls, though Newt Gingrich has enjoyed a slight bump in poll numbers, presumably due to Herman Cain’s recent scandal. Many pollsters and analysts have predicted that Gingrich will take over the frontrunner spot from Cain and jump past Romney in the process.
Also, there were two debates this week and Perry took this opportunity to cement his place as worst debater in the GOP field. It wasn’t pretty.
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