Data from two new surveys have contributed to a slightly widening lead for Republican J.D. Vance in his Ohio Senate campaign against U.S. Representative Tim Ryan (D-OH-13).
One of the polls comes from the Democrat-aligned group Data for Progress, which finds that Vance has garnered 49 percent of the 1,016 likely voters with whom the organization spoke.
Data for Progress arrived at that result despite discovering that a slightly higher percentage of Ohioans have a negative opinion of Vance as have a negative opinion of Ryan — 46 percent to 44 percent. The company also found that more Buckeye Staters (42 percent) have a favorable opinion of Ryan than have a positive opinion of his Republican rival (40 percent). Such results suggest that some voters are considering external factors such as inflation and negative economic growth under the watch of a Democratic White House.
The other poll, from the Republican-aligned company Cygnal, determined that the 1,547 likely voters the group surveyed registered 46.9 percent support for Vance and 43.3 percent support for Ryan.
Both polls also found favorable results for other GOP candidates running statewide in Ohio, particularly incumbent Governor Mike DeWine. The governor and Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted received 54.6 percent of voters’ support, according to Cygnal, whereas Democratic former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and her running mate Cheryl Stephens got 37 percent.
Republican Attorney General Dave Yost also fared well, garnering 52.3 percent of respondents’ backing, while his Democratic opponent Jeffrey Crossman got only 35.7 percent. Meanwhile, GOP Secretary of State Frank LaRose received the support of 48.3 percent of respondents while Democratic rival Chelsea Clark got 34.3 percent.
Cygnal arrived at a number of findings indicating why Democrats are having such a hard time winning support this year. For one, the survey discovered a mere 37.8 percent approval rating for President Joe Biden.
Also, when it comes to the issue on which Republicans have been running most vocally — controlling inflation and living expenses — 36.2 percent of Ohio voters report that that is their foremost concern. But only 18.9 percent of Buckeye Staters say that they are most concerned with a woman’s right to have an abortion, the issue on which Democrats have been most intensely focused.
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Ohio Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “J.D. Vance” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
