Former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, has an eight-point lead over U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, a Republican who was appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine, according to a poll of Ohio registered voters released last week.
The same poll found that in the contest for governor, Democrat Amy Acton was up six points over Republican Vivek Ramaswamy.
It was the first Ohio poll conducted by Marist University this cycle.
It surveyed 1,298 registered voters between Sept. 24 and 27 using phone calls, text messages and the internet to solicit opinions. The margin of error was 3.8 percentage points.
Brown’s lead in the poll is significantly higher than the Real Clear Politics average of 3.7 points. The group’s average has Acton up by four points.
The Republican candidates are likely being dragged down by an unpopular president. The New York Times average places Donald Trump’s approval at 37%.
“Ohio registered voters approach the midterm election cycle with a sour mood toward President Donald Trump and lean Democratic in the state’s marquee contests,” a statement accompanying the Marist poll said.
The survey found that Trump is a little more popular with Ohioans — who gave him 42% approval — than with Americans as a whole.
The biggest share of Ohio voters, 41%, said their vote in the midterm election would be a vote against Trump. Thirty-three percent said Trump wasn’t much of a factor in their vote, and just 25% said they would vote in support of the president.
The same plurality, 41%, who said they plan their midterm votes as a statement against Trump, also said they’ve become economically worse off in the past year. Another 37% said their finances are about the same and just 19% said their finances have improved.
In addition to the economy, a quick, sharp backlash against data centers appears to be costing Ohio Republicans in terms of public opinion. In an August memo, the National Republican Senatorial Committee described how the backlash imperiled Husted’s chances — and those of future data centers.
“More than any other thing in this race, data centers are the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck,” it said. “If he loses and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one.”
The issue might help explain why, on the generic congressional ballot, Democrats have a three-point edge in Ohio. The Real Clear Politics puts the Democrats’ national lead on the generic congressional ballot at 8.5 points.
Election Day is Nov. 3. Military and overseas absentee voting start Thursday.
The deadline to register is Oct. 5. Early in-person and mail-in voting in Ohio start on Oct. 6.
The Ohio Secretary of State’s election calendar can be found here.
This story is republished from the Ohio Capital Journal under a Creative Commons license. View the original article.
