Incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is facing a serious challenge from Republican Josh Mandel in Ohio, with the two candidates now in a virtual tie - and many voters still undecided, a NewsmaxZogby poll reveals.
The online survey of 842 likely voters conducted from Sunday Oct. 7 through Tuesday Oct. 9 shows first-term Sen. Brown with 38 percent of the vote and Mandel with 37 percent. Independent candidate Scott Rupert gets 8 percent of the vote, and 17 percent remain undecided.
Mandel, the Ohio State Treasurer, leads among several important demographic groups. Men favor Mandel by a margin of 41 percent to 36 percent, white voters opt for Mandel, 41 percent to 32 percent, and respondents with a college degree favor Mandel, 41 percent to 38 percent.
Voters who live in suburbs give Mandel 40 percent of their vote to Brown's 36 percent, and rural voters go overwhelmingly for Mandel, 48 percent to 22 percent.
Younger voters prefer Brown, but those age 65 and above go for Mandel, 51 percent to 36 percent.
Independent voters choose Brown over Mandel, 31 percent to 26 percent, while Rupert, not surprisingly, polls strongly among those voters with 17 percent, and 26 percent are undecided.
Single voters in the NewsmaxZogby Swing State Tracking Poll poll favor Brown (46 percent to 19 percent) while married respondents solidly prefer Mandel (44 percent to 35 percent).
Mandel polls strongest among respondents who say they are sympathetic to the tea party, receiving 75 percent of the vote, while Brown gets just 11 percent, barely edging out Rupert at 10 percent.
Brown polls strongly among voters who have a union member in their household, receiving 46 percent of the vote to Mandel's 33 percent and Rupert's 4 percent.
The NewsmaxZogby Swing State Ohio survey will feature new results on Thursday and Friday.
Poll Methodology