Poll: Dead heat in fight for Senate seat in Ohio
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/05/28/art.portman.gi.jpg caption="A new poll released Friday indicates that former Rep. Rob Portman trails Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher by one point."](CNN) - A new poll suggests a virtual tie in the Senate battle in the important bellwether state of Ohio.
According to a survey released Friday by The Ohio Poll, 47 percent of likely voters in the Buckeye State say they back Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, the Democratic nominee, in the general election matchup, with 46 percent supporting former Rep. Rob Portman, the Republican nominee, and six percent undecided. Fisher's 1-point advantage is well within the poll's sampling error.
The survey, conducted by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati, indicates Portman with a 44 percent to 35 percent lead among independents, with one in five undecided.
Fisher defeated Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner earlier this month in a tough and expensive Democratic Senate primary. Portman, who also served as former President George W. Bush's White House budget director, had no real GOP competition. The race in November is to succeed retiring Republican Sen. George Voinovich.
According to the poll, Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland leads his Republican challenger, former Rep. John Kasich, 49 percent to 44 percent, in Ohio's gubernatorial contest. Fifty-five percent of those questioned in the survey approve of the job Strickland is doing as Ohio governor, with 35 percent saying they disapprove. The governor, who's bidding for a second term in office, has seen his approval rating rise 7 points from last October.
The survey indicates that 46 percent of Ohioans approve of the job President Barack Obama is doing in the White House, with 49 percent giving him a thumbs down. Obama won the state by five percent over Sen. John McCain in the 2008 presidential election, a reversal from 2004 when Bush narrowly took the state over Sen. John Kerry.
The Ohio Poll was conducted May 11-20, with 898 adults, including 668 likely voters, questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.
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Make the nation proud Ohio and let's get 2 Dem's in the Senate for your state.
I'm looking forward to the Orange Man being ousted. ha ha ha ha ha ah ha ha ha ha
Is the dream of GOP for Nov. to take over come true? I am afraid the signals are not promising!
The polls show Obama dragging down every Democrat in 2010. This is Obama's gift to the Democratic party.
Let the Dem be defeated.
Ohio how's them democrats been working for you these past years? Time for a change.
Mr. Fisher win win as will most democratic senators and congressmen this fall. The GOP has very wrongly assumed that when people say they are angry with congress that they are angry at the democrats, wrong! The American people send representatives to Washington to get things done, but the republicans just say no to everything, period. That is not governing. The American people are fed up with the GOP political games, trying to score points with their base, which by the way is down to only 20% of the country. The GOP is playing to the extreme right wing nuts, the Tea Baggers, while they are loud, they do not represent the American people.
Vote NO in NOvember to the party of NO.
C'mon Ohio, time to remember the past. There is no way a former Bush administration official should even be considered for election to the Senate. Look around you? See all the problems our country is facing? THAT'S what Portman is connected to. How could anyone want to return to administration as corrupt and/or incompetent as Bush's?
A vote for a Democrat this Nov, any Democrat. is a vote for the arrogant left wing agenda being forced on the nation by Obama, Pelosi, and Reid. A vote for any Democrat is a vote to continue the massive corrupt spending piling up trillions and trillions and trillions in debt. Its hard to see how anybody anywhere could want to continue the corrupt spending, and overall incompetence we've seen from the Democrats. 9.9% UNEMPLOYMENT, Debt of $13 trillion still shotting up like a rocket. More corrupt vote buying and "Chicago Way" politics than we've ever seen in our nation's history. Every vote for a Democrat in Nov is a vote to continue this giant radical left wing fiasco!!!!
Bet on the Republican winning! Especially if Obozo comes to campaign for the DemocRAT!
this registered democratic is voting for portman 🙂
Come on Ohio! Are you guys serious? You're trying to ADD more No sayers to the Senate? Do a 'pro' and 'con' column. What have the Republicans done to AID in the recovery of the country that they almost killed, and what have they done to administer the final rites to same?
That should help you decide. Unless you're just part of the Party First Screw the Country crowd.
You mean the Republicans could lose this seat in the 2010 mid-term election!? How will the media fit that into their narrative of doom for Democrats?
Ohio is doing so well economically that they should continue along the democratic course that has led them to enjoy such high economic growth and one of the nation's lowest unemployment rates. Why just the other day, dozens of companies announced plans to relocate to Ohio......
Please Ohio, let go of the liberal ideology and vote againt the democrats socialist agenda.
Elect a republican so they can join up with the..... T Party....... and Rand Paul... and also get small govenrment to handle oil spills and ......ight the Wars on Terrorism?... eight years of the two oil men .. GW Bush and Dick Cheney... concluded witht he Great Recession.....They love de-regulation so business can drill baby drill attitude...... any way they want ...
Wow, if this man was a budget director for Bush, that is reason enough NOT to vote for him.
Supporting Portman would be supporting what Bush and the republicans did to our country, supporting Wall st.
How could any intelligent voter do that??
"Obama does not realize that being reactionary to attacks, talking tough, and putting committees in place after the attacks occur does not protect people. You must govern, lead, and be proactive."
You mean like taking steps to establish policy and procedures that include the very real threat of homegrown terrorism from Americans radicalized by Al Qaeda, etc.? You know, that thing all you conservatives/GOPers were complaining about yesterday as though it meant he was going to go hunting for every gun-toting mullethead full of warm Busweiser that he could find south of the Mason-Dixon line? Either your memories are pathetically short because your brains are so underdeveloped OR you do this "say anything" self-contradictory knee-jerk crap on purpose with the intention of throwing out distraction bombs with no other purpose than getting people to be mindlessly angry and not really understand why they are angry. Choose.
Lt. Gov Fisher is going to win this election. Only thing I'm concerned about in Ohio is when is John "Bonehead" Boehner up for re-election.
I have not agreed with everything that Strickland has done but he is miles ahead of Bob Taft, the previous governer. Heck, the pencil on my desk is miles ahead of Bob Taft. I am not a fan of John Kasich. For one, he wants to get rid of the state tax but won't say what he would replace it with. The state is in a projected 8 Billion dollar hole and he wants to do this? It sounds irresponsible to me.
Also, no way will i vote for Rob Portman. If he was in charge of the Bush financial policies, I definately will not be pulling the lever for him. I don't see how the Bush financial policies worked for anyone save the rich folks. Thanks but no thanks!!!
The Republicans left our great state in such a mess the last time they were in charge, you would have to be brain dead to vote those jokers back into office.....
Come on Independents--help to save our economy/country just like the Independents did in the Massachusetts election.
If this is true about the Independents-–the Republican Portman should easily win this seat.
So what happened to all of those teabagger candidates that were going to "take back their country"?
But...but...this is the GOP's year. At least that is what people in the media keep telling us. Portman is going to have problem with the fact that he was Bush's budget director. He over saw the eight years of reckless spending and increasing our debt. That doesn't help.
Bush but Ohioians in the soup lines which is one of the most deplorable situations for my native Buckeye people. No more Republicans, they know better.