Sherrod Brown Leads Jon Husted 52-47 in Fox News Ohio Senate Poll

Buoyed by a clear favorable advantage, a large gender gap and voter dissatisfaction with household finances and President Donald Trump, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown has the edge over Republican nominee Sen. Jon Husted in the Ohio Senate race.

A Fox News survey of likely Ohio voters finds Brown leading Husted, 52% to 47%.

Brown’s advantage is rooted in his stronger personal position, with his favorability rating 2 points above water (50% favorable, 48% unfavorable), while Husted’s rating sits 13 points underwater (42% favorable, 55% unfavorable).

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More Brown supporters (88%) than Husted supporters (83%) say they are certain of their vote.

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Economic malaise creates another headwind for Husted, as about 2.5 times as many voters say their financial situation is worse than two years ago rather than better (46% vs. 19%). Those who say things are worse favor Brown by 49 points, while those who say their finances are better or similarly favor Husted by 51 and 24 points, respectively.

The president’s position in Ohio added to Husted’s difficulties. Trump won the Buckeye State with 55% of the vote in 2024, but only 43% now approve of his job performance. A majority of 57% disapprove, with 46% saying they “strongly” disapprove.

Meanwhile, 52% express concern that Husted is too close to Trump, including 38% who are extremely concerned. Brown faces similar concerns about being too liberal: 50% of respondents are concerned, although fewer than 30% are extremely concerned.

In the matchup, the women favor Brown by 14 points, while the men back Husted by 4 points, a gender gap of 18 points. Brown also has advantages among voters under 35, voters with college degrees, union voters and those living in urban and suburban areas. Husted draws on rural communities, non-college white men and married voters and has a limited advantage among those 65 and older.

Partisan crossovers tilt the field more toward the challenger. While Husted receives 90% of Republicans, 9% fall behind Brown. Some 97 percent of Democrats support Brown, while only 2 percent choose Husted, and Brown wins independents by a margin of nearly two to one.

Voters who view both Senate candidates unfavorably favor Husted by nearly 20 points.

Brown is up 9 points among those who are extremely interested in the election and leads by 29 points among the 15% of Ohioans who say they have already voted.

Legislative preference leans toward Democrats, with Ohioans split 50% for Democratic control of the U.S. Senate and 48% for Republican control.

In the governor’s race, likely voters favor Democrat Amy Acton over Republican Vivek Ramaswamy 50% to 48%. Women favor Acton by 10 points, while men support Ramaswamy by 7 points, a gender gap almost identical to that in the Senate race.

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The ticket split goes both ways: 8% of Brown supporters switch to Ramaswamy, while 6% of Husted supporters support Acton.

The investigation was conducted before a negative television ad from Ramaswamy’s campaign featuring Acton’s ex-mother was made public.

Conducted October 15-19, 2026, under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), this Fox News poll includes interviews with a sample of 2,005 registered voters in Ohio, randomly selected from a statewide voter file. Respondents spoke with live interviewers on landlines (219) and cell phones (1,306) or completed the survey online after receiving a text message (480). Results based on the sample of registered voters have a margin of sampling error of ±2 percentage points, and for the subsample of 1,592 likely voters it is ±2 percentage points.

Sampling error for results among subgroups is higher. In addition to sampling error, the wording and order of questions can influence the results. Sources for developing target weights include the most recent American Community Survey, Fox News Voter Analysis and voter file data. Weights are typically applied to the age, race, education, and region variables to ensure that respondent demographics are representative of the registered voter population. Likely Voters are based on a probabilistic statistical model that draws on past voting history, interest in the current election, intent to vote, age, education, race, ethnicity and marital status. Results among subgroups are only shown when the sample size is at least N=100.

Fox News’ Victoria Balara contributed to this report.