Rob Portman has focused since early last year on building a reelection campaign that could withstand any election-year turbulence — a strategy now being tested with Donald Trump at the top of the ticket. | Getty Ohio poll: Portman leads for Senate despite Trump deficit

GOP Sen. Rob Portman leads Democrat Ted Strickland by an 8-percentage-point margin in a new poll of the Ohio Senate race, the latest in a string of signs that Portman is weathering Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's August slump better than many other members of his party.

Portman leads Strickland 48 percent to 40 percent in the latest Monmouth University poll. Hillary Clinton leads Trump 43 percent to 39 percent in Ohio's presidential race, meanwhile, with Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson picking up 10 percent support.


Portman has focused since early last year on building a reelection campaign that could withstand any election-year turbulence — a strategy now being tested with Trump at the top of the ticket. But as other GOP Senate candidates have seen their poll numbers slide alongside Trump’s in recent weeks, Portman's 8-point lead in the Monmouth survey reinforces other recent polls, conducted in late July and August, that have found Portman leading Strickland by between 4 and 9 percentage points. Those have been Portman's best public polling results of the election cycle, and a shift from this past spring, when he and Strickland, a former governor, were neck and neck.

An additional 8 percent of voters told Monmouth they are undecided, and 4 percent said they plan to vote for a different candidate in the race.

Portman hasn’t always been able to insulate himself from the top of the ticket, and his campaign recognizes his fortunes could change.

“Obviously, we’ve had a great month. And obviously we’d rather be us than Governor Strickland right now — but we are taking nothing for granted,” Portman campaign manager Corry Bliss told POLITICO recently.

Portman has secured several union endorsements in recent weeks and managed to avoid being tied too much to Trump, while Strickland has struggled to avoid controversy and push his own narrative about what voters need in Ohio. But Portman has been most buoyed by heavy early advertising, both from his cash-flush campaign and from outside groups that have relentlessly attacked Strickland's gubernatorial record. Portman is one of several Republican senators touting his work fighting opioid abuse as a nonpartisan accomplishment during this election.

Twenty-eight percent of voters said they had favorable opinions of Portman, versus 20 percent who had unfavorable opinions. Strickland was viewed favorably by 23 percent of respondents and unfavorably by 37 percent of respondents.

Democrats point out that the Strickland has only recently started running his own TV ads, the first of which focused on his humble roots, that will reintroduce him to Ohio. Hillary Clinton is meanwhile building a campaign infrastructure — fully integrated with Strickland’s campaign — that is expected to dwarf Trump’s ground operations in the state. The Clinton campaign could give Strickland a major get-out-the-vote advantage that won’t register in early polls, Democrats argue.

The Monmouth University Poll indicates Portman is luring some Democrats and independents into his camp right now. While 88 percent of Republicans said they support Portman, 76 percent of Democrats said they support Strickland. Portman also lead Strickland among independent voters, 47 percent to 37 percent. Sixty-five percent of voters said they trust Portman to represent the interests of workers either “a lot” or “a little,” while 56 percent felt the same way about Strickland.

The Monmouth University Poll contacted 402 likely Ohio voters between Aug. 18 and Aug. 21. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

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