Posts tagged fisher

Democratic Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher and Republican Rob Portman remain in a tight race for Ohio’s U.S. Senate seat with 42 percent for Fisher and 40 percent for Portman, with 17 percent undecided, statistically unchanged from April and March surveys, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

“The Senate race remains far, far from any kind of clear picture, mostly because neither candidate is well known to Ohioans. Even though Fisher has been a figure in Ohio politics for two decades, 54 percent of voters say they don’t know enough about him to form an opinion. For Portman, 66 percent can’t rate him. With four months until Election Day the Senate race is wide, wide open,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Besides the horse race, other measures of attitudes towards the candidates are more favorable to the Republican candidate. By 33 – 30 percent voters say they trust Portman more to do in office what he promises on the campaign trail and by 36 – 31 percent they say Portman, rather than Fisher, most shares their values.

Fisher is viewed favorably by 28 percent of Ohio voters and unfavorably by 17 percent. Portman gets a 26 – 7 percent favorability.

“Those numbers indicate that Portman may have the more growth potential of the two,” said Brown. “On all these measures, Portman does better than Fisher among independents, often a key to Ohio elections. But both men have so far to go to introduce themselves to the electorate that money could be a very important factor in the race. Money, via television commercials, buys name recognition.”