John Kasich, Julie McBride

Ohio Gov. John Kasich talks with a voter during a Feb. 11, 2016 campaign stop in Pawleys Island, S.C.

(Matt Rourke, Associated Press)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Ohio Gov. John Kasich is fighting for fourth place in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary, according to two new polls released Monday night.

The polls -- one conducted by the South Carolina House Republican Caucus, the other by the Democrat-aligned Public Policy Polling -- are the first conducted since the raucous Saturday debate in South Carolina.

Both show Kasich polling at 10 percent. Both also show celebrity businessman Donald Trump clearly topping the pack by nearly 20 points. Competing for second place are senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. And virtually tied with Kasich is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

[NOTE: Following the publication of this post, CNN/ORC released a new poll showing Kasich coming in last, behind Ben Carson, with 4 percent support. The poll, which otherwise shows the candidates in the same order, was conducted between Feb. 10-15.]

While politics is a bottom-line business, the new polls, particularly when viewed in context with other recent surveys, reveal both good and bad news for Kasich in South Carolina, where Republicans on Saturday will pick whom to award all 50 of the state's delegates.

The bad news

1. Kasich -- he of the Ned Flanders-esque "jeez oh man" quip -- didn't receive a clear boost from his debate performance.

Meanwhile, there was some speculation that Trump's debate performance, during which he said then-President George W. Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, might hurt him.

But Trump did not lose any serious ground. In fact, the polls do not clearly show any candidates gaining or losing support post-debate when compared to last week.

2. A Feb. 13 poll, the last before the Republican debate, had Kasich coming in second with 15 percent support, ahead of Rubio and Cruz.

If proven accurate, a second-place finish in a conservative southern state would be a huge coup for Kasich, who is viewed as a moderate in the race. Even though the poll screamed "too good to be true," it might have at least shown upward momentum for Kasich.

But in the new poll, Kasich is back at 10 percent, compared to 9 percent in polls earlier last week. (The Feb. 13 poll was performed by American Research Group, which is not viewed as particularly accurate by the polling website FiveThirtyEight.com. But the firm did accurately predict Kasich's second-place finish in New Hampshire on Feb. 9.)

The good news

1. Even though Kasich almost certainly won't win South Carolina, all the recent polls in the state show Kasich is at least relevant there. You couldn't say that a month ago.

On Jan. 23, Kasich polled at just 1 percent, basically a rounding error.

On Feb. 10, the day after the New Hampshire primary, 9 percent of South Carolina voters said they would pick Kasich, according to an Augusta Chronicle poll. And six of the seven polls conducted in South Carolina since Feb. 10, including the two released Monday, show Kaisch scoring at least 9 percent.

As Cleveland sports fans can attest, it's a process.

2. Kasich has a shot at finishing ahead of Jeb Bush, the other governor in the race.

The PPP poll shows Kasich leading Bush 10 percent to 7 percent. The South Carolina House GOP poll shows Bush leading Kasich 13 percent to 10 percent. Overall, all the polling points to Kasich being neck-and-neck with Bush.

At some point, the Republican Party establishment will need to decide whether their interests -- preventing Trump or Cruz from being the nominee -- might be better served by consolidating support behind one guy. Kasich wants to be that guy. So do Bush and Rubio.

Kasich doesn't expect to win South Carolina, and is openly looking forward to primaries in states where voters might be more receptive to his views, like Michigan.

But for Kasich, finishing ahead of Bush in South Carolina would be another step in the right direction.