Presidential candidate and Ohio Governor, John Kasich hasn’t lost much support, but he’s still trailing behind Donald Trump since controversy stirred this week surrounding Kasich’s comments about women leaving the kitchen to support him.
Quinnipiac University Poll surveyed Ohio voters yesterday to see, if the primaries were today, how Republican and Democrat primary voters would cast. Hillary Clinton and Trump are leading in their respective parties. Trump takes 31 percent of the vote to Kasich’s 26, and Clinton comes in over Bernie Sanders 55-40 percent.
Trump and Kasich are almost evenly split (27-26) when it comes to the women’s vote, even despite comments Kasich made this week about the supporters that have helped his campaign along.
“Nobody was — I didn’t have anybody for me. We just got an army of people, who, and many women, who left their kitchens to go out and go door to door and to put yard signs up for me,” Kasich said. “All the way back, when, you know, things were different.”
Considering his opponent in the primaries it’s not all that surprising that no one cares about Kasich’s slip. All through his career, and with even more cameras in his face throughout his presidential campaign, Trump has unapologetically insulted a litany of people, places, things and ideas — and women have never been spared. The only thing he has over Kasich, as far as women are concerned, is a clean slate when it comes to actually enacting harmful legislation.
Sunday Kasich defunded Planned Parenthood, redirecting $1.4 million from the 28 facilities throughout the state (three of which actually perform abortions) to other hospitals that don’t provide or promote abortions or contract with places that do.
The funding cut doesn’t mean Planned Parenthood clinics will be closing their doors, but critical programs aimed at infant mortality — a problem affecting African-American women twice as often as white women — will be stripped of funding, along with “preventative health care services like breast and cervical cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment and HIV testing,” according to a press release.
These latest displays of disregard for Ohio women has gained more press coverage than the ongoing campaign he’s headed against reproductive rights since he became governor in 2011. Every anti-choice and restrictive bill he’s received, Kasich has signed. At first bills were aimed at making the process harder for the women seeking abortions, including a 24-hour mandatory waiting period and provisions making it harder for minors to seek court approval in the absence of parental permission for abortions. His focus more recently has been on making it harder for abortion providers to function.
Public hospitals are prohibited from having transfer agreements with abortion providers, and transfer agreements are mandatory for the providers to stay open. Clinics are then forced to partner with private hospitals or give in to political pressure and close.
“As Governor of Ohio, he has enacted more measures to protect unborn children than any other governor in the history of the state, including bans on late-term abortions and bans on elective abortions in public hospitals,” said his pro-life website, “Respecting the Sanctity of Human Life.”
The website and his pro-life agenda get little coverage as Kasich portrays himself as a moderate alternative to his party contenders. As the weeks pass before the Ohio primary, there could be more talk about Kasich’s record in Ohio with women, a state-sized model for what could play out on the national stage should he or one of his even more conservative party members win the presidency.