New poll shows close race ahead of debate

Event to air live tonight from UD on WHIO-TV Ch. 7 and WHIO Radio.

Heading into the COLUMBUS — first debate in the governor’s race tonight at the University of Dayton, the race between Democrat Richard Cordray and Republican Mike DeWine remains close, according to recent polls.

The two candidates will debate at 7 p.m. tonight at the University of Dayton — an event hosted by the university. Cox Media Group Ohio is the media partner for the debate.

“We’re really excited to have it here in Dayton. I mean obviously we think Dayton is the most important city in the state,” UD President Eric Spina said Tuesday.

A survey of likely voters conducted by Baldwin Wallace University between Sept. 5 and 15 shows DeWine with a slight lead over Cordray: 41.8 percent to 37 percent, but with 21.3 percent undecided. That poll was released on Tuesday.

A poll released last week from Politico/AARP showed DeWine at 39 percent, Cordray at 38 percent with 23 percent undecided.

Tonight’s debate is moderated by News Center 7 anchor James Brown. Questions will be asked

by Dayton Daily News Columbus Bureau reporter Laura A. Bischoff, News Center 7 reporter and WHIO Reports host Jim Otte and University of Dayton assistant political science professor Christopher Devine.

BW Community Research Institute director Tom Sutton said in a written statement that the outcome of the Nov. 6 election will hinge on how late-deciding voters break in the final days.

Why Dayton?

Spina said it is important for UD to host tonight’s debate to start a dialogue across Ohio before Election Day.

“We believe citizenship is a good thing for our students to engage in as soon as possible, so I think we were able to make the case that it fits well at this university,” Spina said.

“Dayton is an important city historically and certainly as Dayton comes back economically, it’s only good news for the state, so I think having this here in Dayton sends a good signal that whoever turns out to be governor will be paying attention to Dayton and I’ve certainly sensed a lot of excitement among leaders in Dayton as well.”

More on poll results

In the Baldwin Wallace poll, DeWine’s advantage is largely thanks to men, 47 percent of whom said they supported him. Cordray only pulled support from 35 percent of men.

Women were roughly split, with 38 percent supporting Cordray and 37 percent supporting DeWine.

Both DeWine and Cordray were relatively wellliked, with a net favorable rating of 8 percentage points each. However, 47 percent of respondents said they had not heard enough about Cordray to have an opinion while only 22 percent said the same about DeWine.

Also on the statewide ballot for governor but not participating in the debate are Libertarian candidate Travis Irvine, a comedian and freelance journalist in the Columbus area; and Green Party candidate Constance Gadell Newton, an attorney based in Columbus.

The threshold for participation in the UD debate is candidates who earned at least 10 percent support in recent statewide polls. Neither Irvine or Newton have met that threshold.

Voter registration ends Oct. 9 and early voting begins Oct. 10.