Associated Press
CLEVELAND - Only four in 10 registered Ohio voters back competing proposals to allow slot machines, signaling a difficult campaign before the measures even get on the ballot, a poll released Saturday found.
About half of respondents would reject either of two proposals, the poll by The Plain Dealer found. Both would allow slots at the state's seven racetracks; one also would allow slots at two Cleveland-area locations, with voters being able to vote in 2010 whether to add table games at one site.
In a similar poll by the newspaper one year ago, half of respondents favored making casino gambling legal in the state.
Ten percent of respondents in the latest poll were undecided about the racetrack-only proposal, and 8 percent undecided about the second.
When the telephone poll was conducted Monday through Tuesday, the second question included slots in Cincinnati. Backers offered to drop the city from the proposal later Tuesday, trying to woo supporters of the racetrack-only proposal to unify the ideas into one ballot question for November.
Yet a third proposal was not mentioned in the poll of 625 registered voters, which had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Inc. of Washington conducted the poll for the newspaper.
Also, 45 percent of respondents said President Bush is doing a poor job, with one-third rating him as good or excellent. Several participants, including some who voted for the Republican, said they were unhappy about the Iraq war and rising gasoline prices.
CLEVELAND - Only four in 10 registered Ohio voters back competing proposals to allow slot machines, signaling a difficult campaign before the measures even get on the ballot, a poll released Saturday found.
About half of respondents would reject either of two proposals, the poll by The Plain Dealer found. Both would allow slots at the state's seven racetracks; one also would allow slots at two Cleveland-area locations, with voters being able to vote in 2010 whether to add table games at one site.
In a similar poll by the newspaper one year ago, half of respondents favored making casino gambling legal in the state.
Ten percent of respondents in the latest poll were undecided about the racetrack-only proposal, and 8 percent undecided about the second.
When the telephone poll was conducted Monday through Tuesday, the second question included slots in Cincinnati. Backers offered to drop the city from the proposal later Tuesday, trying to woo supporters of the racetrack-only proposal to unify the ideas into one ballot question for November.
Yet a third proposal was not mentioned in the poll of 625 registered voters, which had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Inc. of Washington conducted the poll for the newspaper.
Also, 45 percent of respondents said President Bush is doing a poor job, with one-third rating him as good or excellent. Several participants, including some who voted for the Republican, said they were unhappy about the Iraq war and rising gasoline prices.