Ohio Governor John Kasich is the “Republicans’ best hope to win the presidency” in a face-off with Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton,
according to a Barron’s front-page story this week.
“Unlike Clinton, Kasich has a sensible across-the-board tax-cutting agenda for corporations, individuals, and investors,” the magazine says. “And as a Republican president working with a presumably GOP-controlled Congress, he would be a more effective leader. After all, he spent six years as the chairman of the House Budget Committee, so he knows how to broker a deal.”
Kasich is also a long shot candidate, having won 143 of the 1,237 Republican delegates needed to win the nomination. Real estate developer Donald Trump has 736 delegates while Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has 463. Last month, Barron’s said investors would be better off with Clinton than with Trump because of her record as a political moderate.
But Kasich has advantages over Clinton, according to Barron’s writer John Kimelman.
“He’s the only GOP candidate who beats Clinton in a head-to-head contest in the polls,” Barron’s says, citing data from the Real Clear Politics website.
Kasich beats Clinton 48 percent to 42 percent, while Trump loses with 39 percent to Clinton’s 50 percent. Clinton beats Cruz 46 percent to 44 percent, the data show.
“Kasich, who spent 18 years in the House, appears to be sincere about reforming entitlements and other government spending,” Barron’s says. “The bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has studied the numbers provided by each candidate and concluded that Kasich is the only one in the race who can lower total federal spending as a percentage of gross domestic product over the next decade.”
The magazine also likes Kasich's plan to reform income and corporate taxes, repatriate the estimated $2 trillion in profits held overseas and reorganize the Internal Revenue Service.
Barron's doesn’t like Trump’s ideas on restricting global trade in an effort to protect U.S. workers from low-paid competition in countries like China and Mexico. Trump would add $10 trillion to the federal debt, according to a study cited by the magazine. The national debt
has risen 70 percent to about $19 trillion under President Barack Obama.
Endorsing Kasich
Kasich has received endorsements from other newspapers including the New York Times,
which in January said “as a veteran of partisan fights and bipartisan deals during nearly two decades in the House, he has been capable of compromise and believes in the ability of government to improve lives.”
The NYT also likes his plan for helping undocumented illegal immigrants obtain legalization, “and he speaks of government’s duty to protect the poor, the mentally ill and others ‘in the shadows.’”
© 2024 Newsmax Finance. All rights reserved.