CLEVELAND, Ohio - A new poll released Friday shows U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, up big in his race against GOP U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci while Republican Attorney General Mike DeWine leads Democratic former federal consumer watchdog Richard Cordray in the governor's race.

Brown held a double-digit lead over Renacci in the poll while DeWine's margin shrunk since January.

The poll was commissioned by the 1984 Society, a political group of former Ohio Senate employees, which measured every statewide race. The poll is one in a series the group is conducting over the course of the election, according to Neil Clark, a Republican lobbyist and 1984 Society board member.

The poll surveyed 800 registered general election voters with a history of voting and new registrants from May 21-25. It was conducted by Fallon Research via live callers and included cell phones and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.46 percent.

It's still early in the general election and numbers can change frequently as the race progresses.

Senate

After a shakeup in the race in January when Republican Treasurer Josh Mandel abruptly dropped out of the race, his replacement, Renacci, has failed to catch fire despite endorsements from the Ohio Republican Party and President Donald Trump.

The poll showed Brown leading Renacci by more than 14 percentage points, with nearly 48 percent saying they supported Brown and just less than 34 percent backing Renacci. Green Party candidate Philena Farley had surveyed at 3 percent while 15 percent were unsure.

March polls from Baldwin Wallace University and WOIO both showed Brown leading by a similar margin.

The polling numbers could indicate an enthusiasm gap for Renacci. The congressman had lackluster support in the primary and had weak fundraising totals.

Despite being the only candidate in elected office in the Republican primary for Senate, Renacci failed to garner more than 50 percent of the vote.

During the first fundraising quarter of 2018, Renacci was only able to raise $257,000 in contributions.

Governor

The 1984 Society poll also showed DeWine leading the governor's race with a 6.5 percentage point advantage on Cordray, leading the Democrat 40 percent to 33.5 percent. Green Party candidate Constance Gadell-Newton had 1 percent while 22 percent said they were unsure.

That's closer than a similar poll by the same outfit in January, which showed DeWine leading 49 percent to 28 percent - a 21-percentage point lead.

DeWine also remains more well-known than Cordray. A full 93 percent of respondents said they had heard of DeWine, compared with 66 percent for Cordray.

But Cordray had a better net favorability rating of 20 percent compared with DeWine at 16 percent.

Part of the reason for DeWine's drop could be residual effects from an ugly primary. The race between DeWine and Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor quickly devolved into attack ads and mudslinging.

DeWine's favorability was lowest in the Cincinnati media market, where the bulk of the attack ads against DeWine ran.

Attorney general

Despite Democrats' best attempts to tie Republican Auditor Dave Yost to the scandal surrounding the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, the poll shows Yost with an 9-point lead over Democratic challenger Steve Dettelbach.

Yost has been in the crosshairs of Democrats, who have tried to tie him to ECOT, an online charter school accused of bilking the state out of millions of dollars.

Not only did Dave Yost tank a criminal case by failing to collect evidence, but he also allowed taxpayers to continue to get duped and our kids have paid the price.



Again, Yost needs to recuse himself from this investigation immediately.https://t.co/i7WXBxOT8Y — Steve Dettelbach (@SteveDettelbach) May 10, 2018

The poll did not ask any questions about ECOT or its relation to the attorney general's race, making it difficult to gauge what - if any - effect it has had.

Down ticket

The poll showed the rest of the races as mostly competitive.

State Rep. Kathleen Clyde, a Democrat from Kent, was essentially tied with state Sen. Frank LaRose, a Republican from Hudson, in the secretary of state's race. More than 37 percent of voters said they were undecided.

Former U.S. Rep. Zack Space, a Democrat from Dover, led state Rep. Keith Faber, a Republican from Celina, 35 percent to 32 percent, within the margin of error.

And state Rep. Robert Sprague, a Republican from Findlay, led Democratic labor attorney Rob Richardson of Cincinnati 33 percent to 30 percent, also within the margin of error.

Should that pattern hold, it means Democrats have a realistic shot of at least two seats - secretary of state and auditor - on a new redistricting commission that will draw state legislative districts.

How's everybody doing?

Ohioans in general said they were optimistic about the current direction of the state, which bodes well for Republicans.

Nearly 52 percent of respondents said they thought Ohio was going in the right direction, compared with 25 percent who said it was on the wrong track. More than 17 percent said they were not sure.

At least a plurality of every demographic and geographic group said they thought the state was on the right track, including Democrats at 46 percent.

Read the poll:

1984 Society June Poll by srichardson on Scribd