Rasmussen: Ohio Senate Race Tightens

Ohio's Senate race has tightened within the margin of error with Republican challenger Josh Mandel garnering the support of 42 percent of Ohio's voters, according to the latest Rasmussen poll.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Ohio Voters shows Brown with 46 percent support to Mandel’s 42 percent. Four percent prefer another candidate in the race, and eight percent are undecided.

Forty-one percent of Ohio voters now think the president’s health care law will be good for the nation. Forty-nine percent disagree and view it as bad for the country. Brown voted for that bill.

Fifty percent at least somewhat favor repeal of the law, but 46 percent are opposed. This includes 45 percent who Strongly Favor repeal and 36 percent who are Strongly Opposed to it. That’s slightly higher opposition to repeal than is found nationally.

Mandel has 80 percent support from those who Strongly Favor repeal. Brown picks up 87 percent of the vote from those Strongly Opposed to repeal.

Eleven percent of voters in Ohio consider the economy good or excellent. Most (53 percent) rate it as poor. Thirty-two percent say the economy is getting better, but 45 percent believe it is getting worse.

Brown gets 84 percent of the vote from those who view the economy positively. Sixty-four percent of voters who think the economy is in poor shape support Mandel.

Brown’s advantage is little changed from May. He was elected to the Senate in 2006 with 56 percent of the vote after serving 14 years as a U.S. congressman. Mandel is currently Ohio’s state treasurer and before that was a state legislator.

This Ohio survey of 500 Likely Voters was conducted on July 18, 2012 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.