BG Reports

By Hannah Hilyard

The Bowling Green State University College Republicans’ weekly meeting was full of anticipation last week, as the members watched all the different campaign ads for the remaining contenders for the Republican presidential nomination.

These students are not the only ones highly anticipating the upcoming election. The state of Ohio’s voting day is quickly approaching and many eyes are on the state.

“Ohio is like a small United States,” Matt Reger, Wood County Chairman for the Ohio Republican Party, said. It is such a diverse state because it has both rural and urban areas, he said.

The nation always seems to pay close attention to Ohio because it is considered a swing state, not strictly Democrat or Republican.

According to the Wood County Board of Elections, in 2008, Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee at the time, won Wood County. Four years earlier in 2004, George W. Bush, the Republican nominee at the time, won the county. Both went on to become president.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll released last week, candidate Rick Santorum surpassed Mitt Romney as the frontrunner in Ohio. Santorum is predicted to get 36 percent of the votes, compared to Romney’s 29 percent. Newt Gingrich is third with 20 percent, and Ron Paul is at the bottom with 9 percent.

One major issue on Ohio residents’ minds is the economy.

High gas prices are one reason Ohio has the economy at the forefront, Reger said.

Tabitha Timbrook, 20 of Dayton, Ohio, and Off Campus Senator and Chair of Academic Affairs for the Undergraduate Student Government, believes the high unemployment and unstable job market is why the economy is hot issue, especially for BGSU students.

“The state of the economy controls what jobs will be available upon graduation, what loans and grants the federal and state governments are providing, the assistance the school receives, etc.,” she said in an email.

While the economy seems to be at the top of the nation’s list, president of the BGSU College Republicans Andrew Jones, 20 of Antwerp, Ohio, believes social issues will also be on the platform. For example, the family has been the main focus for Santorum’s campaign.

The Republican debates over the past months have been heated between the individual candidates. They have been attacking each other.

Jones sees this as an advantage. They are being tested for when they face President Barack Obama in the future debates, and the nominee will have nothing else to hide, he said.

Timbrook agrees. “If one considers the last presidential election, both parties had fairly contentious primaries where the candidates really challenged each other, but during the election, party members supported their nominee,” she said.

According to the same Quinnipiac University poll, if the November election were to take place today, Obama would win Ohio with 46 percent of the vote and Romney would get 44 percent.

Obama also beats Santorum and Gingrich with larger margins if the election were today.

Ohio votes on Super Tuesday, which is March 6 this year. The general election is on Nov. 6.

Tags: economy, election, Gingrich, Paul, Republicans, Romney, Santorum

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 at 1:02 am and is filed under Localizing story, Spring 2012, Student Contributor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.