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President Donald Trump carried Ohio by more than 11 percent in 2024, but a new Fox News poll finds his standing in the Buckeye State has deteriorated — a development that benefits Democrat Sherrod Brown in the Senate race.
By 15 points, Ohioans view Trump negatively: 42% have a favorable view and 57% have an unfavorable view. That’s more than a 20-point swing compared to his overall +6 (52-46%) in the November 2024 Ohio Fox News Voter Analysis poll.
A poll of Ohio voters, released Wednesday, finds that Trump’s approval rating is roughly equal to that of incumbent Republican Senator Jon Husted (41% favorable, 50% unfavorable), while his opponent and former Ohio Senator Brown is viewed more favorably (53% vs. 44%).
That helped Brown beat Husted by a 53% to 45% margin in the race to fill a state Senate seat. His 8-point lead is outside the poll’s margin of sampling error.
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Brown received 98% overall support among Democrats compared to Husted’s 86% among Republicans. Brown also gets support from outside the Democratic base: 31% of non-MAGA Republicans and 13% of all Republicans. Only 2% of Democrats chose Husted.
Husted is favored by White evangelical Christians (+32 points), rural voters (+11), and White men without a college degree (+7). Brown is elected by voters under the age of 35 (+33), independents (+18), and women (+14).
Non-white voters favor Brown by 58 points, and the race is heating up among White voters (49 percent each). And the election is nearly tied among voters 45 and older (49-48%), while Brown has a 23-point lead among those under 45.
The candidates are vying for the Senate seat Husted currently holds after succeeding JD Vance when Vance was vice president. Brown hopes to return to the US Senate after losing his seat to Bernie Moreno in 2024.
About 7 in 10 of both Brown (73%) and Husted (69%) supporters are certain of their choice. Overall, almost one in four say they may change their mind before voting.
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By a 6-point margin, more Democrats (82%) than Republicans (76%) say they are very willing or very willing to vote this November.
A majority of Brown’s supporters, 68%, describe their vote as mostly for him rather than against Husted (30%). Those who support Husted are less enthusiastic about the candidate, with 58% saying their support is more for him than against Brown (39%).
In a state where Trump holds 55% of the vote, the poll finds that being too close to him is now more binding than more liberal. Some 39% of Ohioans are concerned that Brown is “too liberal,” including 13% of his supporters. For Husted, 46% overall are concerned that he is “too close” to Trump, including 10% of his supporters.
Inflation dominates, with 43% saying it is the most important issue in their Senate vote. All others trailed far behind, including health care (12%), immigration and border security (11%), political divisions (9%), jobs (8%), Iran (7%), abortion and crime (4% each). Notably, inflation is a top issue among independents (50%), Democrats (44%), Republicans (40%), MAGA (34%), and 2024 Trump voters (39%).
Inflation-focused voters favored Brown by 14 points, as did health care voters by 44 points, while those who put immigration and border security first Husted by 76.
When it comes to their family’s finances, 39% of Ohio voters say they are lagging behind, up from 32% who said the same in the 2024 FNVA survey. The largest number, 49%, say their family is very conservative, down 9 points.
“There’s a good reason Democrats are strong in Ohio,” said Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who runs the Fox News poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. “The country remains solidly Republican, but Democrats are united against Trump supporters and independents are choosing Brown.”
In the governor’s race, Ohio voters are split: half back Democrat Amy Acton (50%) and nearly half back Republican Vivek Ramaswamy (49%). Fourteen percent chose Brown in cross-party Senate races to support Ramaswamy.
A majority of Democrats (93%) want Acton, while a majority of Republicans favor Ramaswamy (89%). Independents support Acton by 8 points (51-43%).
Almost twice as many Acton supporters (38%) than Ramaswamy supporters (21%) said their vote was mainly “against” the other candidate.
Seven out of ten of the candidate’s supporters are certain of their choice.
Although opinions of Acton are favorable by 9 points (46% approve versus 37% disfavor), 16% cannot rate him. Ramaswamy’s ratings are positive by 1 point (45-44%), while Vance’s is underwater by 7 (45-52%), and opinions are split on sitting Gov. Mike DeWine (48-48%).
By more than 2-to-1, Buckeye voters oppose building an AI data center in their area (32% in favor, 65% opposed). That opposition cuts across political lines, with majorities of Democrats (72%), independents (64%), and Republicans (59%) opposing building data centers.
Conducted May 28-June 1, 2026 under the joint supervision of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with a sample of 1,015 Ohio registered voters randomly selected from the statewide voter file. Respondents spoke with interviewers live via landline (109) and cell phone (653) or completed the survey online after receiving a text message (253). Results based on a full sample have a sampling error margin of ± 3 percent. The sampling error of results between subgroups is high. In addition to sampling error, question wording and order can affect the results. Sources for developing weight targets include the latest American Public Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis, and voter file data. Estimates are often used for age, race, education, and geographic variables to ensure that the demographics of the respondents are representative of the total number of registered voters. Results between subgroups are only shown if the sample size is at least N=100.
Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.
