Hiram College Professor Jason Johnson was quoted by the Cleveland Plain Dealer for the article “Senate Bill 5 repeal sets table for Democrats and President Obama in 2012.”
While state legislators who voted in favor of the law won’t receive union support next year, police officers haven’t necessarily become straight-ticket Democrats, Loomis added.
But “if Obama maintains 25 percent of the Republican or center-right voters who voted against SB 5, he’ll keep Ohio,” predicted Jason Johnson, a Hiram College political scientist.
A wild card in this electoral guessing is Mitt Romney.
One thing is certain. Whether the Republicans nominate Romney or someone else, the party’s chance of winning back the White House will be jeopardized if SB 5 remains headline news. Johnson and Green, the University of Akron political scientist, both warned of further backlash if Kasich and GOP lawmakers attempt to pass individual components of the bill.
“If he drags this out for the next year, he is basically giving this election to Barack Obama,” Johnson said of the governor. “People don’t want to hear about this anymore.”