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With Presidents and Porn Stars, Who Has Time for Tax Policy?

Ideastream Public Media | By M.L. Schultze,

M.L. Schultze

Published May 3, 2018 at 5:51 PM EDT

The Baldwin Wallace poll found -- with less than a week before primary election day, many voters are still unsure who they want to be their gubernatorial candidates.

Ohio’s likely Democratic voters are having a tough time deciding who they want to run for governor. Here's more on what may be behind the large share of undecideds.

Why Democrats are so undecided

According to the new poll by Baldwin Wallace University, 41 percent of Ohio Democrats are unsure who they’ll pick for their gubernatorial candidate in Tuesday’s primary. Of those who have made up their minds, former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Chief Rich Cordray is leading with 31 percent, followed by former Congressman Dennis Kucinich at 15. The other two candidates – state Sen. Joe Schiavoni and former Supreme Court Justice Bill O’Neill -- are in single digits.

Democratic State Rep. Dan Ramos of Lorain says he doesn’t think the undecideds are an indication of weakness in the field. Rather, he says, national politics is so absorbing these days, there’s not a lot of coverage of the more mundane things like tax policy.

“I don’t think it has anything negative to do with our candidates. I think it’s just that for whatever reason, human beings are more interested in a president paying off a porn star than subtleties in policy choices.”

On the Republican side, the poll shows about half of likely voters plan to vote for Attorney General Mike DeWine for governor; 25 percent are picking Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor and 25 percent haven’t made up their minds.