New Fox News Poll Shows GOP Senator Trailing Democrat in State Trump Won by 11 Points

Screenshots via Jon Husted and Sherrod Brown on Facebook.

President Donald Trump won the state of Ohio by solid margins all three times he has run for president, but in 2026, his abysmal polls seem to be dragging down the incumbent Republican senator’s fortunes for this November’s ballot.

Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Ohio by over eight points in 2016, lost the 2020 election overall but beat Joe Biden in Ohio by over eight points, and then improved his margin in the Buckeye State in 2024 to beat then-Vice President Kamala Harris by over 11 points.

Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) was appointed to the Senate in 2025 when JD Vance became vice president. He previously served as Ohio’s lieutenant governor, secretary of state, a state senator, speaker of the Ohio House, and a state representative. This year, he is running in a special election in November to fill the remainder of Vance’s Senate term, which will be up for re-election in 2028.

Challenging Husted is former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who was first elected to the Senate in 2006 and served until he was defeated by Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) in 2024. Before he was in the Senate, Brown represented Ohio’s 13th congressional district, and previously served as Ohio secretary of state and several years in the state house.

The polling numbers for Trump and the GOP have been brutal as his second term has progressed, with his immigration crackdown cratering his support, the handling of the Epstein files getting abysmal marks, and even Americans’ views on his handling of the economy and inflation taking body blows.

The president’s social media posts and public comments about the Iran war sparked new negative chatter, with reporters openly asking him about his “mental health” and critics accusing him of advocating for war crimes.

With the midterm elections coming up in November, majority control of the House and Senate is on the line, and both Democrats and Republicans have been strategizing to defend their at-risk seats while seizing opportunities to flip others.

A new Fox News poll taken from May 28 to June 1 reveals that Trump’s favorability in Ohio “has deteriorated,” to Brown’s benefit.

The survey was conducted among registered voters in Ohio “randomly selected from a statewide voter file” by live phone calls on landlines and cell phones or online after responding to a text message. The full sample has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points. The polling sample had weights “generally applied to age, race, education, and area variables to ensure the demographics of respondents are representative of the registered voter population.”

When respondents were asked if they would vote for “Republican Jon Husted” or “Democrat Sherrod Brown” (the order of the names was rotated) if the election was held today, 53% said Brown, 45% said Husted, and 2% said they did not know.

That 8-point margin for Brown represents a nearly 20-point swing from Trump’s 2024 numbers in Ohio, and Brown was ahead with most demographic groups the pollsters measured.

Brown was ahead with both men and women, tied with Husted among white voters (both at 49%), way ahead of Husted among non-white voters (73% to 26%), and clobbered Husted among voters who were registered independent (53% to 35%, with 11% unsure, and 1% other) and those who identified as politically moderate (60% to 37%, with 2% unsure).

Screenshot of May 28-June 1 Ohio poll via FoxNews.com

The Democrat also fared better than the Republican at winning over voters of his own party. Among Democratic voters, 98% picked Brown and only 2% picked Husted, but 13% of Republicans wanted Brown compared to 86% for Husted. Among non-MAGA Republicans, Brown scooped up even more votes, getting 31% of that group.

The poll showed a similar advantage for Brown when comparing how respondents voted in 2o24. For 2024 Trump voters, 14% chose Brown, 85% chose Husted, and 2% were unsure; for Harris voters, it was 97% Brown and 3% Husted.

Husted did best with older voters (he won over voters over 65 by 2 points), white voters without a college degree (53% to Brown’s 45%), rural voters (54% to 43%), and among Protestants (53% to 46%) and white Evangelicals (65% to 33%).

Brown was boosted by Democrats’ higher level of enthusiasm, with 82% of Democrats saying they were “extremely or very motivated” to vote in November compared to 76% of Republicans. Slightly more Brown voters (73%) than Husted voters (69%) said they were sure of their choice. More Brown voters (68%) said they were voting for him rather than against Husted (30%), whereas Husted had 58% of his supporters saying they were voting for him rather than against Brown (39%).

Brown’s favorability ratings were noticeably higher than Husted’s, with 53% favorable, 44% unfavorable, and 3% can’t rate compared to the Republican being slightly underwater at 41% favorable, 50% unfavorable, and 9% can’t rate. Husted’s favorability numbers were close to those for Trump, with the president being viewed favorably by 42% and unfavorably by 57%.

And even though Trump won the state comfortably in 2024, he was a drag on Husted’s numbers, with Ohio voters more concerned about Husted being “too close to Donald Trump” than if Brown’s “positions on the issues are too liberal.”

Screenshot via Fox News.

Another key to the overall Senate polling numbers lies within how Ohio voters ranked their top issue in the election. Inflation and high prices was ahead by a significant margin, with 43% saying it was their most important issue, followed by healthcare (12%), immigration and border security (11%,) political divisions (9%), jobs (8%), Iran (7%), abortion (4%), and crime (4%).

Inflation was the first pick for all partisan groups: 50% of independents, 44% of Democrats, 40% of Republicans, 34% of MAGA Republicans, 39% of 2024 Trump voters, and 44% of 2024 Harris voters.

Voters who ranked inflation first chose Brown by 14 points, and those who picked healthcare chose Brown by 44 points. Those two top issues represent over half (55%) of the voters in the survey.

Husted was 76 points ahead among those who ranked immigration and border security as most important.

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