Biden leads Trump in hypothetical Ohio matchup, poll shows

By Quint Forgey
Registered voters in Ohio surveyed by Quinnipiac University favor Biden to Trump by a margin of 50-42 percent.

Joe Biden is the only Democratic White House contender leading President Donald Trump in a hypothetical Ohio general election matchup, according to a poll released Thursday.

Registered voters in Ohio surveyed by Quinnipiac University favor Biden over Trump by a margin of 50-42 percent, while other major Democratic candidates — including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, California Sen. Kamala Harris, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg — remain virtually tied with the president.

Trump captured 51.3 percent of the vote in Ohio and its 18 electoral votes in the 2016 presidential election, while Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton garnered only 43.2 percent of the battleground state’s voters. Former President Barack Obama won the state, long considered a bellwether in American presidential politics, in 2008 and 2012.

Biden remains atop the expansive Democratic field in Ohio, with the support of 31 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters. Harris and Sanders come in second at 14 percent each, followed by Warren with 13 percent and Buttigieg with 6 percent.

Eight of the roughly two dozen Democratic hopefuls achieved 1 percent in the Quinnipiac survey, and 12 candidates are polling at less than 1 percent.

“Former Vice President Joseph Biden calls himself a blue-collar guy. With Ohio certainly a blue-collar state, it is no surprise he is the Democrat who runs best against President Donald Trump and is solidly ahead in the Democratic primary in the Buckeye State,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University poll, said in a statement.

“Biden runs best against President Trump in every Quinnipiac University state poll so far,” Brown added. “To get reelected, Trump will need to win the industrial Midwest. Ohio certainly is key to that plan.”

Quinnipiac University surveyed more than 1,431 Ohio voters via landlines and cellphones from July 17–22, with a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points. The poll includes more than 550 Democrats and independent voters leaning Democratic, with a margin of error of 5.1 percentage points.