Clinton favorability underwater in Ohio, trails Kasich, Paul in head-to-head match-ups

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s favorability is underwater in Ohio and she trails in head-to-head potential 2016 match-ups against native son Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, according to a new poll.

Fifty-four percent of Ohio voters have an unfavorable opinion of Mrs. Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential front-runner, compared to 38 percent who have a favorable opinion, according to the survey released Wednesday by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling.

That tracks with a 50 percent/34 percent unfavorable/favorable split among independents for Mrs. Clinton in the survey. Ninety-one percent of Republicans said they have an unfavorable view of Mrs. Clinton, while 73 percent of Democrats said they have a favorable view.

Mr. Kasich, a possible presidential candidate, led Mrs. Clinton by 7 points in a head-to-head match-up, 47 percent to 40 percent. Mr. Paul was the only other Republican to lead Mrs. Clinton in a head-to-head contest, getting 44 percent to Mrs. Clinton’s 41 percent. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was tied with her at 44 percent apiece.

She still dominates the Democratic field, getting 61 percent to 13 percent for Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, her next closest competitor on that side.

But her largest leads against other potential Republican rivals in head-to-head match-ups were just 3-point margins.

On the Republican side, Mr. Kasich led the way among primary voters with 19 percent of the vote, followed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 13 percent apiece, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Mr. Rubio at 12 percent apiece, Mr. Paul at 9 percent, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 6 percent, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas at 5 percent, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 4 percent.

The survey of 859 Ohio voters, including 411 GOP primary voters and 360 Democratic primary voters, was taken from June 4-7. The margin of error for the overall is plus or minus 3.3 percent, for the Republicans it’s plus or minus 4.8 percent, and for Democrats it was plus or minus 5.2 percent.