According to a new poll in Ohio, Republicans John Kasich and Rob Portman have opened up leads over their Democratic opponents in two of the most-watched races for Governor and U.S. Senate in the nation. The survey, conducted by Ohio Right to Life, found that Kasich leads incumbent Governor Ted Strickland by ten points, 42% to 32%. The same survey shows Rob Portman leading Democrat Lee Fisher by a margin of 37% to 31%.

Ohio has lost 300,000 jobs over the past few years, and that has sent Ted Strickland’s job approval rating plummeting. Kasich is running a solid, grassroots campaign. Both he and Portman, who represented Ohio and served together in Congress, are making jobs and the economy the centerpiece of their campaigns. According to Ken Blackwell, chairman of the Ohio Faith and Freedom Coalition, “These Ohio poll numbers and Scott Brown’s surge in Massachusetts illustrate that voters are growing increasingly wary of the free-spending and dangerous big government Democrat agenda. Like Massachusetts voters, Ohioans don’t see any signs of progress and seem to have very little confidence in the party in power. And if you look at Ohio, where unemployment doubled, from 5.4 percent to 10.6 percent, since Democrat Ted Strickland became governor, voters have every right to feel frustrated.”