Quinnipiac poll shows Brown ahead of Mandel
3/29/2012U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D., Ohio) holds a commanding lead over Republican challenger Josh Mandel, the Ohio state treasurer, in a new poll on Ohio’s U.S. Senate race released Thursday by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
The poll puts Mr. Brown ahead of Mr. Mandel 46 percent to 36 percent, largely on the strength of women’s support.
In February, Mr. Brown led 48 percent to 35 percent, so the race has tightened slightly.
Among women, Mr. Brown leads 48 percent to 31 percent, while he is tied with Mr. Mandel among men 43 percent to 42 percent, according to the poll. Mr. Brown also has the edge among independent voters 46 percent to 28 percent.
“Senator Sherrod Brown retains his double-digit lead in the Ohio U.S. Senate race. As is the case with President Barack Obama’s lead in the White House race, the Democratic margin is made up almost completely of the votes of women,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
“At this point, Josh Mandel is not very well known and he can take some solace in the fact that Brown is not over the magic 50 percent threshold. There are seven months until election day, but Mandel needs to show some signs of life if he is going to make the Senate race competitive.”
Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,246 Ohio voters March 20-26. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.