Carl Weiser

The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ohioans — especially Ohio Republicans — want Gov. John Kasich to drop out of the presidential race, a new poll out Monday shows.

Nearly half — 49% — of Ohio voters say it's time for Kasich to drop out of the race for the Republican nomination, compared with only 38% who want him to stay in.

Among Republican voters, 58% want him to drop out.

The poll is from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling, but the same firm found a month ago that 52% of Ohioans wanted Kasich to stay in the race.

Since winning Ohio's primary March 15, Kasich has endured a string of losses. Long mathematically eliminated from winning on the first ballot, he says he is hoping to win at a contested convention.

“Ohio voters were pretty supportive of John Kasich’s presidential ambitions for a while,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “But now they’re ready for him to wrap it up as his prospects grow smaller and the bill for taxpayers related to his campaign gets larger and larger.”

The poll found only 31% of Ohio voters think Kasich isn't paying enough attention to his gubernatorial duties.

The poll of 799 registered voters was conducted April 26th and 27 using phones and the Internet. The margin of error is +/-3.2 percentage points.