Former Sen. Sherrod Brown and wife Connie Shultz
Ohio was once the ultimate swing state, choosing the winner in all but two presidential elections between 1912 and 2012.
But President Donald Trump changed that.
Ohio voters lurched hard to the right, and Democrats struggled to win statewide contests over the past decade thanks to working-class white voters buying into Trump’s fake businessman schtick and culture war garbage.
But something is afoot in 2026, with polls showing that Ohio voters are not only turning against Trump, but also against the GOP.
On Wednesday, Ohio political reporter Andrew Tobias obtained an internal Democratic poll showing Democrats leading the state’s gubernatorial and Senate races and tied in the attorney general contest.
That followed a Fox News survey that found Democratic Senate nominee Sherrod Brown leading incumbent GOP Sen. Jon Husted by eight points, and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Amy Acton leading Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy by one point.
“There’s good reason for the Democrats to be bullish on Ohio,” pollster Daron Shaw said in Fox’s writeup of the survey. “The state remains solidly Republican, but Democrats are united against Trump allies and independents prefer Brown.”
This suggests that the GOP’s own internal numbers are just as bad, with a super PAC tied to Senate Majority Leader John Thune poised to spend the most money this cycle in Ohio.
Republicans’ struggles in Ohio are thanks to Trump, whose approval in the state has taken a nosedive, with voters angry with the rising price of gasoline and groceries.
“I’d say, ‘Fuck you,’” Rob Couch, an Ohio man who voted for Trump in 2016, told MS NOW about what he’d say to Trump right now. “I don’t mean to be disrespectful to any leader, but he’s disrespectful to us—and he doesn’t care.”
Chris Tackett, an Ohio truck driver who voted for Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024 also slammed Trump for his war in Iran that has caused prices to spike.
“Nobody wants to hear the war is almost over. Nobody wants to hear it’s gonna get better,” Tackett told MS NOW. “You’ve had a year to make it better at this point—make it better. ‘Make America Great Again,’ right?”
Indeed, the Fox poll found Trump’s approval rating in Ohio at a dismal 42 percent—down a whole ten points since the 2024 election.
Meanwhile, an internal Democratic poll from Ohio’s 15th Congressional District—which Trump carried by ten points in 2024—found Trump’s approval at just 40 oercent. That’s proof that even strong Trump areas are turning against him.
Fox also found that inflation/high prices and healthcare will be the most important issue for voters in the Senate contest. And voters who listed those as their top issues prefer Brown over Husted by 14 points and 44 points, respectively.
Three-time Trump voter Annette Dombrowski easily summed up the president’s problems in Ohio.
“It’s been two years now,” she told MS NOW. “You said you’d bring down the grocery prices. I must be the most angry person when I grocery shop because I buy the same things every week and I see it jump every week. It is not every couple months. It’s literally every week.”
Unless prices meaningfully come down, Trump and his party are in deep trouble this fall.
Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos
- New Polling Indicates A Blue Wave Building Toward 2026 Midterms ›
- As Midterm Polls Signal Blue Tsunami, GOP Is Frantically Waving The Flag ›
- 'Wipeout': Republicans Terrified 2026 Blue Wave Will Flip Senate And House ›
- Bannon Outlines MAGA Plan To Suppress Votes And Subvert 2026 Elections ›
- Congressional Republicans Drop 'States Rights' To Help Trump Steal 2026 Midterm ›
- What Will It Take For Democrats To Flip The Senate? A State-By-State Cheat Sheet ›
Start your day with National Memo Newsletter
Know first.
The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning
