COLUMBUS – Republican Rob Portman leads Democrat Ted Strickland in the race for Portman’s U.S. Senate seat, one Republicans would like to hold onto to maintain their control of Congress.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday morning, Portman (above right) holds a 47-40 percent edge over the former Ohio governor (left).
Republicans Pat Toomey, in Pennsylvania, and Marco Rubio, despite his last-minute decision to seek reelection in Florida are leading their opponents in their states as well, good news for the GOP in an election when leaders are worried a failed Donald Trump presidential bid could sink other candidates and return control of at least one house of Congress back to the Democrats.
Portman, who had trailed Strickland earlier in the campaign, has the support of men and white voters while Strickland does well with women and minorities, the same gender and racial divides exhibited in the university’s poll of presidential candidates Trump and former secretary of State Hillary Clinton released Wednesday.
Portman received a 40 percent favorability rating, compared with Sen. Sherrod Brown’s 48 percent and Gov. John Kasich‘s formidable 58 percent.
The poll of 955 voters conducted between June 30 and July 11 has a margin of error of +/- 3.2 percent.