Husted Narrowly Ahead in Ohio Senate Race
ActiVote’s October 18, 2026 Ohio U.S. Senate poll finds that Republican Jon Husted leads Democrat Sherrod Brown by 0.4%. The poll was in the field between September 26 and October 18 (median field date of October 7). The poll was among 400 likely midterm voters and has an average expected error of 4.9%.
Husted leads among rural voters, voters aged 30 to 64, men, White voters, voters on low and high incomes and voters with no more than a high school education. Brown leads among suburban and urban voters, voters under 30 and aged 65 and older, women, Black voters, voters on middle incomes, college-educated voters and graduate degree holders. These group figures rest on subsamples for which the expected error is considerably larger than the 4.9% for the poll as a whole. Ohio does not register voters by party, so we do not report a breakdown by party affiliation.
Political Spectrum
The following graph shows the support for Husted and Brown among left, moderate left, center, moderate right, and right voters. These groups are defined by splitting the Ohio electorate in 5 equal sized groups of 20% each.
Brown holds his own side slightly more firmly. He takes 100% of the left and 89% of the moderate left, while Husted takes 94% of the right and 89% of the moderate right. The race is decided in the center, where Husted leads by 56% to 44%.
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 | 400 LV | Unweighted | Weighted | Jon Husted | Sherrod Brown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | ±4.9% MoE | 100% | 100% | 50.2% | 49.8% |
| Political Spectrum | Left | 40% | 20% | 0% | 100% |
| Moderate Left | 30% | 20% | 11% | 89% | |
| Center | 10% | 20% | 56% | 44% | |
| Moderate Right | 8% | 20% | 89% | 11% | |
| Right | 12% | 20% | 94% | 6% | |
| Region | rural | 35% | 38% | 64% | 36% |
| suburban | 41% | 38% | 45% | 55% | |
| urban | 23% | 24% | 37% | 63% | |
| Age | 18-29 | 37% | 11% | 36% | 64% |
| 30-49 | 35% | 24% | 60% | 40% | |
| 50-64 | 16% | 25% | 57% | 43% | |
| 65+ | 11% | 40% | 44% | 56% | |
| Gender | F | 35% | 53% | 40% | 60% |
| M | 65% | 47% | 62% | 38% | |
| Ethnicity | White | 87% | 86% | 54% | 46% |
| Black | 6% | 10% | 33% | 67% | |
| Income | Low | 29% | 24% | 52% | 48% |
| Middle | 27% | 30% | 48% | 52% | |
| High | 43% | 46% | 51% | 49% | |
| Education | HS | 26% | 27% | 58% | 42% |
| College | 63% | 58% | 49% | 51% | |
| Grad | 10% | 15% | 42% | 58% |
Every poll in this race
| Published | Husted | Brown | Gap | Sample | MoE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 18, 2026 | 50.2% | 49.8% | R+0.4% | 400 | ±4.9% |