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Tuesday, September 29, 2009
National Poll: Nearly half of likely voters blame Bush for job losses
George W. Bush has been gone from the presidency more than eight months but nearly half of the likely voters - 47 percent - across the country blame Bush for continued job losses, according to a Zogby-Scoop 44 interactive poll released on Tuesday, Sept. 29.
The poll found that 36 percent of likely voters believe President Barack Obama’s policies are directly responsible for the job losses.
Democrats were much more likely than Republicans to blame Bush while GOP voters were much more likely to blame Obama. Independents were split - with 38 percent blaming Bush and 42 percent blaming Obama.
The interactive survey of 1,978 likely voters was conducted Sept. 15-17 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percent.
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New study from opponents: Four-casino plan a bad bet
Issue 3, the ballot issue to permit casinos in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo, is a bad bet for Ohio, according to a study released on Tuesday, Sept. 29, by opponents of the plan.
The study, prepared by researchers at Hiram College for the Ohio Licensed Beverage Association, said:
*The 33 percent tax rate on gross casino revenue is too low - it should be about 55 percent.
*The $50 million-per-casino franchise fee is too low. The state should auction off franchises to the highest bidders.
*The estimate of 34,000 new jobs - 19,000 from construction and 15,000 permanent jobs - is too high. The estimate comes from a University of Cincinnati study paid for by casino backers.
“It’s just …abundantly clear that the costs will outweigh the benefits,” Jacob Evans, vice president of legislative affairs for the OLBA, said at a news conference.
However, the Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee, the pro-casino group, defended the University of Cincinnati study and said in a statement that the study “painstakingly documents the methodology used to develop the estimate of 34,000 new Ohio jobs and $11 billion in economic impact for the state during construction and the first five years of casino operation.”
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$2.3 billion cut to schools possible, Strickland says
Without money from slot machines, Ohio may also lose federal stimulus funding for schools and see a $2.3 billion gaping hole in K-12 funding, the Strickland administration said Tuesday, Sept. 29.
Without special permission from the federal government to shift money around, Ohio may have to cut aid to districts by 10.3 percent in the current school year and 15.74 percent next school year, according to an analysis by the Ohio Department of Education.
The Ohio Supreme Court last week ruled that Gov. Ted Strickland’s plan to put 17,500 slot machines at the state’s seven horse racetracks is subject to a potential referendum. Opponents of the slots plan are preparing to collect 241,366 valid signatures from registered voters by Dec. 20 to put it to voters in November 2010.
Strickland and his top aides are reviewing the court decision and have yet to decide what to do next. And it’s unclear if race track owners would invest millions of dollars in their facilities if voters may cancel it all 13 months from now.
“The governor asked the department of education to provide an impact analysis as part of the ongoing review of the court’s decision. He is committed to doing everything possible, as quickly as possible, to protect primary and secondary education because the future of the state’s economy depends on how well we education Ohioans,” said Strickland press secretary Amanda Wurst.
