Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, holds a six point advantage over incumbent Republican Sen. Rob Portman for the 2016 election in a new poll of Ohio voters released Monday.
The Quinnipiac University Poll, conducted June 4-15 simultaneously with polls for 2016 Senate races in Florida and Pennsylvania, found that Portman polled far ahead of another Democratic challenger, Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld.
But despite Strickland’s lead, mixed job approval ratings for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, and Sen. Sherrod Brown and President Barack Obama, both Democrats, suggest that the Senate race could be close, said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac Poll.
“Gov. John Kasich was re-elected in a landslide in 2014, while President Barack Obama carried the Buckeye State comfortably in 2012,” Brown said.
“Yet Kasich remains a political icon, while Obama might have difficulty winning in Ohio these days, factors which could boost Sen. Rob Portman’s re-election chances,” Brown added.
“But it’s too soon to be sure where anyone’s numbers will be on Election Day 17 months from now,” Brown said.
The survey results are part of a series of polls Quinnipiac has conducted in key swing states Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida over the last several months.
No candidate has won the presidency since 1960 without capturing at least two of the three states. No Republican has ever won the presidency without winning Ohio.
The Ohio poll surveyed 1,191 Ohio voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
Click here to read more of this story. Like statistics, click here to view the entire poll.
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