Fox News poll shows Sherrod Brown leading Jon Husted by 8 points in Ohio Senate race, with inflation and Trump ties as key factors
A Fox News poll of 1,008 Ohio registered voters conducted August 6–10, 2026, finds former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown leading Republican incumbent Jon Husted 53% to 45%, a margin unchanged since June. Inflation is the top issue for 40% of Ohio voters, far outpacing healthcare, immigration, and political divisions. Husted was appointed to the Senate seat in 2025 after JD Vance became vice president; Brown narrowly lost the seat to Bernie Moreno in 2024.
Single source · Not corroborated
The Fox News poll, conducted jointly by Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R), finds Brown's advantage widening among high-turnout voters: his lead grows to 10 points among those rating their vote certainty at 10 out of 10, and to 15 points among those describing themselves as extremely motivated to vote. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is ±3 percentage points.
Economic anxiety is a central driver of the race. The share of Ohio voters who say their family's financial situation is "falling behind" has risen from 28% in 2020 to 38% in the current poll, and those voters favor Brown by 40 points. Inflation, cited as the top issue by 40% of respondents, leads all other concerns by a wide margin.
Candidate-level concerns cut in both directions. Fifty-one percent of Ohio voters say they are concerned Husted is too close to President Trump — up 5 points from 46% in June — while a smaller share, 44%, worry Brown is too closely tied to the Democratic Party establishment. Brown holds the more positive personal favorability rating of the two candidates, at 51% favorable and 47% unfavorable; Husted's ratings are 10 points underwater at 43% favorable and 53% unfavorable.