The Buckeye State’s GOP Power Duo — and more
Both appointed Sen. Jon Husted (R) and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (R) lead in a new statewide Ohio 2026 general election poll, and the data also contain some interesting ancillary results.
Emerson College conducted the new statewide Ohio poll (8/18-19; 1,000 OH registered voters; 490 likely OH Republican primary voters; 383 likely OH Democratic primary voters; multiple sampling techniques) and the results project Sen. Husted leading former US Senator Sherrod Brown (D), 50-44%. This is the first Senate survey released since Mr. Brown officially announced that he will make a political comeback.
In the Governor’s contest, Mr. Ramaswamy, the endorsed Ohio Republican Party candidate, leads former state Health Director Amy Acton (D) 49-39%, and former Congressman and ex-US Senate candidate Tim Ryan (D) 49-41%. Last week, Mr. Ryan said he would make a decision about entering the Governor’s race by the end of September.
President Trump’s job approval score was 49:42 positive to negative, with unsurprisingly almost all of the Republicans approving and a near unanimous Democratic segment disapproving. As part of the survey, Emerson then tested the personal approval index of nine Buckeye State public figures.
In the Senate race, appointed incumbent Husted’s favorability index is 33:28 positive to negative, while former Sen. Brown is better known but has a tighter favorable lean, 44:42.
Interestingly, the only one of the nine tested political personalities to post an upside-down personal rating was first-term Sen. Bernie Moreno (R) at 38:42. On the job approval score, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) also scored in negative territory, 32:40.
The political figure with the lowest unfavorable personal rating (17%), is Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel (R), the former Ohio State University head football coach. Mr. Tressel still has not completely ruled out running for Governor, but it appears highly unlikely that he will enter the statewide race.
Vice President and former Ohio Senator J.D. Vance (R) posted a 48:43% favorability index, which also is the highest individual negative score of anyone tested but, again, the split is purely partisan with Republicans overwhelmingly favorable and Democrats viewing him unfavorably in virtually equal proportions.
To underscore the partisanship view, when asking this sample of Ohio Republican voters who they would favor to succeed President Trump in 2028, favorite son Vance was the overpowering choice, 55-9-7-6-4% over Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Ramaswamy, and former UN Ambassador and 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley, respectively.
The Democratic sample was also polled regarding their next presidential preference. On this question it is California Gov. Gavin Newsom who placed first within the Democratic sample of 388 respondents, which is a low number for a state the size of Ohio. Irrespective of the potential sampling flaw, Mr. Newsom captured a 20% preference figure. Obviously, this is a very low number, but it is still tops among the tested potential candidates.
In what should be considered bad news for ex-US Transportation Secretary and former South Bend, IN Mayor Pete Buttigieg, he finished behind Newsom with only 15% support. US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was third with 8%, followed by a three-way tie with 7% apiece among Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a two-time presidential candidate, former Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, and Minnesota Governor and 2024 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz.
Sen. Sanders, referring to his age (he will be 87 years of age during the 2028 campaign), is indicating that he will not again run for President. The Harris-Walz showing is particularly poor for the most recent presidential ticket nominees within a Democratic Party segment cell.
