BEREA, Ohio - Republican Mike DeWine continues to hold a narrow lead over Democrat Richard Cordray in the Ohio governor's race, according to a new poll released Tuesday on the eve of the start of early voting.

DeWine has support from 40 percent of Ohio voters, Cordray 37 percent, Libertarian Trarvis M. Irvine 4 percent and the Green Party's Constance Gadell-Newton 3 percent.

However, the difference between DeWine and Cordray is within the margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

Baldwin-Wallace University's Community Research Institute polled 1,017 likely Ohio voters from Sept. 28 through Monday, Oct. 8.

In a two-way race, the margin was nearly the same, at 42 percent to 39 percent in favor of DeWine.

In earlier polling conducted by BW from Sept. 5-15, DeWine's lead in a two-way race was slightly wider, at 42 percent to 37 percent over Cordray.

Two Ohio surveys released Wednesday, Oct. 3 - by Ipsos/Reuters and NBC News/Marist College - found an even tighter race. The Ipsos poll had DeWine up, 45 percent to 44 percent. The Marist College poll reported a tie at 44 percent.

Often times, polls differ in the methodology used to determine likely voters.

On other topics reported from the new poll:

Democrat U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown leads Republican challenger Jim Renacci comfortably, 50 percent to 33 percent.

Ohioans approve of Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, 45 percent to 43 percent.

Issue 1, which proposes to reclassify as a misdemeanor drug possession and use for a number of drugs, leads by 48 percent to 31 percent.

Note: Corrections have been made to reflect two updates from BW, one involving the margin between DeWine and Cordray in a two-way race, and one involving Kavanaugh's support.