Six presidential candidates — all likely to make appearances and spend thousands on television ads across Ohio to win votes — weren’t so keen on answering questions about the state’s flailing economy last week.
The question? Please say how you propose to shape U.S. policy to bring back to Ohio high-paying jobs that will restore economic security.
Only two campaigns — those of Bernie Sanders and Marco Rubio — met the deadline to respond by noon Thursday. A third, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, responded a day late, took issue with numbers collected by news media and reflected mostly on his term as governor rather than discuss the state’s long decline.
Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump did not respond.
More than 20 Ohio media organizations spent the past month analyzing data and talking to Ohioans to get an understanding of the financial strain on the Buckeye State, then asked one economic question of the candidates last week.
The politics reporter for The (Toledo) Blade, Tom Troy, delivered the questions on behalf of the newspaper, radio and television stations.
Candidates were allowed to expand on the question as they wished.
It was an open invitation to address what polling by Pew, Gallup and the Associated Press shows is the most important issue for Americans.
Deafening silence
Voters contacted by the Beacon Journal were troubled by the failure to address a high-priority issue for a swing state.
“If you’re running for president, you should be able to come up with an answer for that. It shouldn’t be that hard,” said Sally Christman, 61, of Barberton. “A few of them have an understanding of how business works. And I would hope that they have advisers.”
Christman lost an administrative job in the medical field during the recession. She was a Ben Carson supporter until the retired neurosurgeon dropped out Friday. Now, she’s scrambling for a credible source to explain the other candidates’ economic plans — and she doesn’t trust the national media or the campaigns.
Annette Bader, 57, of Bath, said the economy — a “key” issue — deserves attention, especially in a purple state.
“Ohio is a battleground state. You would think they would want to have their voices heard in Ohio’s newspapers,” she said.
Bader is leaning toward Trump. But she’d like to know more about Kasich’s record of creating jobs before she settles on her decision.
“If you’re talking about Ohio’s economy, he’s the one to talk to,” she said.
Bader last worked in retail. Her husband works in manufacturing. She knows the difference in how each industry pays. And she said candidates should, too.
“You’re not going to build an economy off of restaurant and retail jobs,” said Bader. “You need manufacturing. You need a product. And a lot of those jobs have gone overseas.”
“By them not responding, that says to me they don’t know,” said Dave Egan, 66, of Stow. “They don’t have a clue as to how they will come to grips with it. I think it was really irresponsible for them to not get back to you.”
Bader, a conservative, and Egan, a Democrat, are concerned that the American electorate is uninformed. Bader blames the media for sensationalizing the election process and not asking about policy. Egan faults candidates who dodge questions.
“[Voters] are at the mercy of the campaign slogans and rhetoric because the data tell you they will not do their homework. They’d rather depend on what the campaigns say or what they hear on TV,” Egan said. “That to me puts a big question mark behind the whole election process.”
Sanders’ plan
Senator Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, offered four points to turn around Ohio’s ailing economy: Undo bad trade deals, expand health coverage, make college affordable and invest in infrastructure projects.
He addressed directly the findings of the news organizations: The last 15 years have devastated the manufacturing sector, dragging Ohio to the bottom half of the nation for median income and near the bottom for growth.
“There is no doubt in my mind that the devastating loss of jobs and income in Ohio over the past fifteen years is due in large part to our failed trade policies. These bad trade deals … have destroyed good-paying manufacturing jobs in Ohio by incentivizing companies to ship jobs overseas,” Sanders said. “As President, I will work to reverse these trade agreements that have proven so costly to Ohio workers.”
Sanders added that he is proposing a “Medicare-for-All plan” that will “lower the costs of health care for individuals and businesses.”
Complete candidate responses are on Ohio.com.
Rubio responds
Senator Rubio’s office provided a two-page response.
“The economy is the No. 1 issue for Ohio voters, and for good reason: employment, wages, and median incomes have fallen, while the costs of health care, education, and living expenses have gone up. We need a president who not only understands the challenges of the 21st century economy, but a president with a comprehensive plan to address them,” Rubio said.
Solutions, according to Rubio, include revolutionizing higher education and skills training and tax code reform.
Tax changes include reduction of a corporate tax rate of 39.2 percent to 25 percent and creating a $2,500 child tax credit for “middle-class families.”
“According to nonpartisan estimates, my plan will create millions of jobs, result in a massive increase in investment, and boost after-tax income for all Americans,” Rubio said.
Also necessary is “a regulatory environment” without unnecessary mandates.
He said he has a comprehensive energy plan to increase domestic production of energy, stop harmful regulations, and modernize an outdated education system to encourage high-paying jobs of the future.
Kasich’s delay
Candidate Kasich missed the Thursday deadline, but both his taxpayer-funded governor’s office and the campaign responded the following day.
On Friday morning, the official office of the governor issued a statement on new jobs numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, saying that Ohio had created “417,700 new private-sector jobs in the past five years.”
Five years takes Ohio back to the bottom of the recession and did not reflect the sharp drop since 2000 or the devastating impact on Ohio household income over the last 15 years.
Campaign spokesman Rob Nichols — previously employed by the governor’s office as his spokesman — criticized the findings by Ohio’s news organizations as out-of-date and failing to note the gains Kasich has made since taking office in 2011.
He said Kasich has made Ohio’s economic comeback during his six years in office — with the creation of more than 400,000 jobs — the centerpiece of his campaign.
The Kasich campaign’s numbers don’t include public sector jobs, down sharply since Kasich took office.
He also doesn’t address the shift from higher-paying, goods-producing jobs to lower-paying service industry jobs, resulting in the sharp decline in household income.
Nichols said Kasich faced a “historical disadvantage” when he came into office in January 2011, and worked to reverse a two decades-long trend. Steps he took included cutting unnecessary bureaucratic red tape, privatizing economic development, getting the state budget under control and cutting taxes.
Contact Tom Troy at tomtroy@theblade.com, 419-724-6058, and on Twitter @TomFTroy. Contributing to this story was Beacon Journal reporter Doug Livingston. He can be reached at 330-996-3792 or dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com.