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Latest poll: Portman, Strickland tied in U.S. Senate race
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Republican Rob Portman remains tied with Democratic challenger Ted Strickland in their race for one of Ohio’s U.S. Senate seats, according to a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday.
Portman and Strickland each received support from 42 percent of 971 Ohio voters questioned as part of the swing- state poll. There were comparable results in May and February Quinnipiac polls – 43 percent to 42 percent in favor of Strickland in the former and 44 percent to 42 percent for Strickland in the latter, both within the margin of error.
Strickland was ahead 46 percent to 43 percent in Quinnipiac’s pre-election October poll.
Republican incumbents in Florida and Pennsylvania outpaced their Democratic challengers in Wednesday’s poll.
“In general, this poll of the three major swing states, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, is good news for the GOP,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the poll, said in a released statement. “Sen. Rob Portman is in a dead heat with former Gov. Ted Strickland in Ohio. But that is an improvement for Portman, who earlier in the campaign was down as much as 9 points.”
He added, “The Ohio Senate race is unusual because it is the rare situation in which the challenger, former Gov. Ted Strickland, is better known than the incumbent being challenged. Only 19 percent say they don’t know enough about Strickland to form an opinion of him, while 34 percent, 1 in 3 voters, say they don’t know enough about Sen. Rob Portman.”
Connecticut-based Quinnipiac regularly gauges the opinions of Ohioans and voters in other swing states on issues and candidates. Its poll had a margin of error of about 3 percentage points.
Among other results, those questioned gave Republican Gov. John Kasich high marks, with 58 percent approving of his work in office.