A strong majority of voters in Ohio’s Republican Primary on Tuesday believe that the state’s incoming U.S. Senator should publicly support former President Donald Trump in his race for the White House, per a CBS News exit poll.
Seventy percent of voters hold this belief. Broken down into specifics, 55 percent feel it is “very important” that Ohio’s next Senator support Trump, and 15 percent say it is “somewhat important.”
Conversely, 29 percent of respondents believe the opposite; it is unimportant to them that their Senator support Trump. Nine percent report feeling that it is “not too important,” while 20 percent say it is “not at all important.”
Most Ohio Republican primary voters say it's important that the state's next U.S. Senator show their support for Donald Trump, according to our early exit poll data there
— Kabir K. / kabirkhanna.bsky.social (@kabir_here) March 19, 2024
(Note: estimates may change a bit as more data arrives) pic.twitter.com/07EI7H4KlL
This poll comes as Trump-backed Republican businessman Bernie Moreno and his establishment-backed opponent, State Sen. Matt Dolan (R), vie for a chance to compete for incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown’s (D-OH) seat.
Former President Donald Trump embraces Senate candidate Bernie Moreno at a campaign rally on March 16, 2024, in Vandalia, Ohio. (Jeff Dean/AP)
CBS also finds that a majority of Ohio Republican primary voters report disbelief that President Joe Biden fairly won the 2020 presidential election. When asked, “Did Biden win legitimately in 2020?” 62 percent of respondents replied, “No,” and 32 percent replied, “Yes.”
And relatedly, only around a third of Ohio Republican primary voters say Biden won presidency legitimately in 2020
— Kabir K. / kabirkhanna.bsky.social (@kabir_here) March 19, 2024
It's something we've seen again and again throughout GOP primaries — proportion was similar in the Iowa, California, North Carolina, and South Carolina GOP contests https://t.co/esQVhAab5F pic.twitter.com/1rrPrDExbD
The number of people surveyed and the margin of error were unspecified, as results will continue to flow in as the election continues through Tuesday night.
Breitbart News reported on Monday that Moreno had taken a nine-point lead over Dolan, according to an Emerson College poll. Moreno garnered 38 percent support to Dolan’s 29 percent support. That poll was taken among 450 likely Republican primary voters between March 17 and 18, 2024, with a margin of error of ± 4.6 percent.
