It’s been a substantial few days for Bernie Moreno, who is now leading again Emerson College poll when it comes to the Republican nomination in the US Senate race in Ohio. As we’ve reported, last week’s Emerson College poll showed state Sen. Matt Dolan with a slight lead, though Moreno is now back in the lead. This time his lead is bigger and beyond the margin of error.
Moreno currently leads with 38%, a 9-point lead over Dolan’s 29%. Secretary of State Frank LaRose dropped to 12 percent, while 21 percent are still undecided.
When undecided voters are pressed, the race becomes more competitive as Moreno is at 44 percent compared to Dolan’s 40 percent, which is within the margin of error. LaRose increases slightly to 16 percent.
#OHSsen GOP SURVEY
Bernie Moreno 38%
Matt Dolan 29%
Frank LaRose 12%
21% undecidedWith a hesitant push:
Moreno 44%
Added 40%
LaRose 16%https://t.co/LvBWw8IBVy pic.twitter.com/6JmoUJRVH4— Emerson College Polling (@EmersonPolling) March 18, 2024
Among GOP primary voters, 37 percent say the economy is the most vital issue, while 29 percent say immigration. Moreno does well with both types of voters. For those who say the economy, Moreno enjoys 37 percent support compared to 23 percent. Dolana. When it comes to immigration, he fares even better than Dolan – by 49-22 percent.
Education also plays an vital role. “There are significant differences in elementary school education in Ohio,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, was quoted as saying. “Dolan leads Moreno among voters with a post-graduate degree, 38% to 24%, while voters with the highest college degree are more divided: 39% support Moreno, 32% Dolan. College voters favor Moreno over Dolan, 43% to 24%.”
The poll was conducted March 17-18 of 450 likely GOP voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.
In last week’s poll, Dolan led 26% to Moreno’s 23%, while 16% favored LaRose. The majority, 32 percent, were still undecided.
Just before the final poll was released, former and potentially future President Donald Trump held a rally for Moreno in Dayton, Ohio, who also spoke. Trump endorsed Moreno last December. Trump not only praised Moreno, calling him an “America First champion,” but also warned voters against Dolan, calling him a “weak RINO… who’s trying to become the next Mitt Romney.”
The rally came just after the Associated Press published a story last Thursday alleging that Moreno had set up an account on the website Adult Friend Finder. However, according to Andrew Conru, who wrote most of the code for the site uploaded to his X account, “there is no geolocation data associated with the account.” Moreover, as Matt pointed out, law professor Jonathan Turley also blogged about how the AP opened up to the lawsuit.
As the founder and person who wrote much of the early code for the Adult Friend Finder search engine, I want to make a brief statement about 2008 Ohio Senatorial candidate Bernie Moreno’s alleged connection to this site.
I looked through all the information available and the account only had…
— Andrew Conru (@andrewconru) March 16, 2024
Many of the reposts cited when sharing the survey mentioned the rally or the hit AP article.
Whoever wins Tuesday’s primary will face vulnerable incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in November in one of this year’s Toss-Up races.
Matt Dolan looks at this survey and furiously signs up for Adult Friend Finder https://t.co/DtJ0jYpFPH
— Jakub Rubaszkin (@JacobRubashkin) March 18, 2024
Trump’s blunder https://t.co/wh7FiQTjRn
— Garrett Ventry (@GarrettVentry) March 18, 2024
Who on earth could have expected this? Lots of laughs. Same movie, same ending.
By the way, AP played the role of villain. https://t.co/NVn0B3UiVe
— Rich Baris, People’s Expert (@Peoples_Pundit) March 18, 2024
Trump appears to have bought out Moreno https://t.co/sfohFqVMOE
— Real Political Data (@RealPData) March 18, 2024
