Ohio congressman Tim Ryan (D) said Monday that despite a new Gallup poll that shows Republican challenger Mitt Romney tied with President Obama in surveys conducted after last week's debate, he doesn't believe the presidential race has fundamentally changed.
"I don't think so. That's a snapshot in time," Ryan told CNN on Monday. "In Ohio especially, which is a key state … it's the swing-state polling on an individual state basis that's really going to matter."
Ryan added that he was "not feeling it on the ground" when asked about Republican claims that Romney would pull ahead in the crucial Buckeye State.
"I've been here in Ohio. I don't really feel it," Ryan said. "I think people definitely have an opinion about how the debate went, but at the end of the day it's going to matter about what policies."
The Ohio lawmaker went on to say that the president had a built-in cushion in the state because of a sentiment among voters "that have actually felt the Obama policies help them."
"Here in Ohio, Obama has a great record," Ryan said. "He slapped tariffs on Chinese products coming over, that helped job creation in Ohio, not to mention the auto industry rescue package and we've had thousands of jobs that have been created."
Ryan added that he believed Paul Ryan's Medicare plan could be a liability for Romney in the Buckeye State.
"We have an older state, we have a lot of seniors that access the Medicaid programs for nursing homes, people who have children with disabilities access the Medicaid program in Ohio, when they see the Romney/Ryan budget when it hits the ground, he's going to lose," Ryan predicted.
