Opponents of Issue 2 — the ballot question regarding the public sector collective bargaining reform bill in Ohio — got an apparent boost from some recently released polling data. According to the latest Quinnipiac University poll released on October 25, support for the reform law has declined. The poll showed that 57% of Ohioans support the repeal of Senate Bill 5 while only 32% oppose repeal. The gap of 25% is an increase over the poll results conducted about a month ago.
Nevertheless, an interesting counter-point appeared later in the week, on the heels of the poll results. In a post on The Washington Post blog, Greg Sargent reports on an internal labor memorandum analyzing the poll results. Among other things, Mr. Sargent quotes the memorandum as questioning whether a poll can accurately predict voter turnout for a ballot initiative and observing that polling on other ballot initiatives in the past has been inaccurate.
For the labor professional, the uncertainty about the law in Ohio will be resolved soon enough. The general election is on November 8.