by JD Davidson
A substantial majority of Ohio voters want to change the way the state draws political districts based on a new poll.
The Bowling Green State University and Public Policy Research Network poll of 1,000 likely voters shows 60 percent favor Issue 1, a proposed constitutional amendment that would remove the redistricting process from political leaders and replace them with a 15-member independent commission.
“In both 2015 and 2018, Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved measures designed to reduce partisan gerrymandering,” Bowling Green Professor of Political Science Melissa Miller said. “Our results suggest we’re headed for a similar result in 2024.”
Eighty-two percent of Democrats and 57 percent of independents favor Issue 1, while only 41 percent of Republicans support it.
The poll showed 60 percent of those surveyed favored Issue 1, while 20 percent plan to vote no, and 20 percent are unsure. However, 51 percent of those responding said they had heard little about Issue 1.
“Voters tend to pay the most attention to the top of the ticket during presidential election years,” Miller said. “In this respect, it’s not surprising that nearly 3 in 10 Ohio voters have not heard anything about Issue 1.”
Issue 1 would end the Ohio Redistricting Commission – a political group made up of five Republicans and two Democrats – and put redistricting into the hands of a nonpolitical citizen committee made up of 15 people, consisting of Republicans, Democrats and independents.
Republicans with majorities in the state Legislature have been pushing against Issue 1, saying it requires gerrymandering.
The Republican-majority ballot board approved ballot language stating that the new commission would be “required to gerrymander” the districts after Citizens Not Politicians – the group that put the issue on the ballot – had submitted proposed language for the ballot that included 15 members who have no disqualifying conflicts of interest and have shown an ability to conduct the redistricting process with impartiality, integrity and fairness.
The web-based poll of 1,000 likely Ohio voters was conducted Sept. 18 through Sunday. Its margin of error is +/- 3.6 percent.
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JD Davidson is a regional editor at The Center Square.
