Polls Show Brown Up, Obama Down in Ohio

A new Quinnipiac poll from Wednesday shows democratic senator Sherrod Brown with a 52 percent approval rating in the state, good news for the incumbent in an election year. Brown’s numbers are surprising to pundits, including Politico, who assumed the Senator’s liberal voting record and close ties to the Obama administration would be harmful to the incumbent’s re-election chances.

Ohio State Treasurer Josh Mandel is the only Republican who has taken steps to run for senate next November. The 34-year-old former Ohio house representative’s campaign has struggled in recent weeks. He garnered criticism this month for failing to file his financial disclosure statements.

However, Mandel’s candidacy is still considered promising, especially after his first quarter fundraising of $2.6 million. Brown raised $1.5 million in the same quarter. In the Quinnipiac poll, Brown is beating Mandel in a hypothetical matchup 49 to 36  percent.

State Senator Kevin Coughlin has indicated interest in challenging Mandel in the senate primary, but is badly trailing Mandel by 21 points and Brown by 21 points as well.

The presidential race is much closer, and could be trouble for Obama heading into 2012, according to poll officials.

“President Barack Obama’s standing among all Ohio voters is back to its lowest ever,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

The poll found that 53 percent of Ohioans disapprove of the way President Obama is handling his job.

The poll results sound better for Obama when compared to his GOP counterparts. Obama is ahead of Romney at 44 to 42 percent and ahead of Perry 44 to 41. Both races fall within the margin of error, which means they are statistically toss-ups at this point.

The GOP field in Ohio is looking more and more like a two-horse race between Perry and Romney. Romney bests the GOP primary field at 24 percent, and Perry comes in second with 20 percent. No one else in the field registers in double digits among potential Ohio GOP primary voters.