Republican presidential hopeful Ohio Gov. John ?Kasich — fresh off a boost in Granite State support in the latest Franklin Pierce University/Boston Herald poll — said yesterday he thinks the image of a conservative is being “badly distorted.”

“I think we have an improper definition of what it means to be a conservative. Ronald Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times,” Kasich said on Boston Herald Radio. “I don’t want the mentally ill to be in prison, I want them to get on their feet. Or the drug-addicted to be in a revolving door in and out of prison, I want to rehab them.”

Kasich defended his expansion of Medicaid in his home state, arguing the ?strategy has saved Ohio ?taxpayers money in addition to being humane.

“I don’t know where in the heck we ever had the thought that because you want to respect people who don’t think the way you do or help somebody get on their feet, that’s not conservative,” he said. “I think it is conservative.

“I think the image of a conservative has been badly ?distorted.”

Kasich has seen a sharp increase in Granite State support, rising to third in the FPU/Boston Herald poll released yesterday. In March, he had less than 1 percent of New Hampshire voters in his corner. After an advertising blitz and a strong performance in the Fox News debate, he’s now polling at 12 percent among likely GOP voters. He trails Donald Trump, who leads the field at 18 percent, and Jeb Bush, at ?13 percent.

“I think at this point we are doing pretty well and I am pleased to hear that,” he said. “But what goes up goes down and what goes down goes up. Look at the Red Sox. You can’t keep a good guy, or a good team down.”

Kasich offered a golf analogy to describe his approach to closing the gap on the front-runner Trump.

“When you play golf, you can play it one of two ways, you can either look at the person you are playing against, or you can play your own game,” he said. “I find that when I play my own game, I play a lot better.”

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