Wall Street Establishment Pick

(Image from johnkasich.com)

Barron's plumps for Ohio governor John Kasich:

Kasich’s policy prescriptions, experience, and temperament make him the GOP’s best bet to reassure a nervous marketplace.

Kasich wins high marks against Hillary Clinton, as well. We argued, in a cover story last month, that Clinton was the better choice for investors in a head-to-head matchup with Republican front-runner Donald Trump because she is a known quantity with moderate instincts (“Trump or Clinton: Who’s Better for Investors?” March 5).

But Kasich (rhymes with basic) outshines them both. And in the event of a contested convention, he has a powerful advantage: He’s the only GOP candidate who beats Clinton in a head-to-head contest in the polls.

Donald Trump sparks the most emotion, both for and against, and Hillary Clinton arouses to a lesser extent. People will probably decide on John Kasich because of his policies, in other words it will be a left-brain decision.

After mostly eight years of cool ("no drama Obama"), will we be running hot or cold in November?

[Update - 4/6: forget about literacy tests--how about credit scores? (H/T Tyler Cowen)

The first is that Kasich supporters are in a league of their own. They have by far the best credit ratings, on average. Some 86% have “excellent” or “good” scores. No other candidate’s supporters even breaks 70%. Kasich’s supporters are half as likely to have bad or fair ratings as anyone else.

The second is that Donald Trump supporters are the least likely to have “good” scores. Only half of them do (49.8%), slightly behind Hillary Clinton supporters (50.7%) and Sanders supporters (51%) and well behind the supporters of the other Republicans. Trump supporters are also far more likely to have “bad” scores than supporters of the other Republican candidates.]