© 2026 WOSU Public Media
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Ohio Polls Show Different Frontrunners on the Democratic Primary Side

Two new polls of Ohio voters show a virtual tie in a head-to-head matchup between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton – and a lot of voters who don’t like either one. WKSU’s M.L. Schultze takes a closer look at the polls, which have one significant difference.

Donald Trump holds a slim lead over Gov. John Kasich in both the Quinnipiac and Baldwin Wallace polls. But on the Democratic side, Baldwin Wallace shows Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in a statistical tie. Quinnipiac puts Clinton comfortably ahead – though both polls show Clinton and Trump with significant detractors. Quinnipiac’s Peter Brown:

“Both Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton have unfavorable ratings in the mid 50s and favorable ratings in the mid-to-high 30s. In the political business, they call that being upside down.”

Lauren Copeland of Baldwin Wallace says the negatives are causing some to look beyond both frontrunners.

“You have a really interesting phenomenon where independents and moderate Republicans are more likely to choose Sanders over Trump.”

Both polls show Gov. Kasich easily besting Clinton and Sanders in a head-to-head race.

Copyright 2021 WKSU. To see more, visit WKSU.

M.L. Schultze
M.L. Schultze came to WKSU as news director in July 2007 after 25 years at The Repository in Canton, where she was managing editor for nearly a decade. She’s now the digital editor and an award-winning reporter and analyst who has appeared on NPR, Here and Now and the TakeAway, as well as being a regular panelist on Ideas, the WVIZ public television's reporter roundtable.