Rasmussen: Strickland ahead by 25

The Rasmussen poll released the results of its statewide polling for Ohio's governor and senator races on August 27th, and the results do not bode well for the Blackwell campaign. According to the poll, Congressman Strickland has increased his lead in the gubenatorial race to 25 points. This tracks with a SurveyUSA poll which shows Strickland's lead at 22 points, and with the Columbus Dispatch poll which showed Strickland with a 20 point lead. According to the Rasmussen results, 57% of likely voters contacted by the survey stated they plan to vote for Congressman Strickland, while 32% state they plan to vote for Secretary Blackwell, with the remaining 11% either supporting third-party candidates or undecided. The three month rolling average, which is supposed to eliminate statistical noise, has had Strickland with a 13-16 point lead for the last five months.

Meanwhile, the more competitive race between Congressman Sherrod Brown and incumbent Senator Mike DeWine continues to be very close. The latest Rasmussen result had Brown with a razor thin 3 point lead, as compared to the 2 point lead from last month's poll. The three month rolling average now shows the race as a tie, and has shown no candidate with a lead larger than two points for the last four months. This is truly going to be a bruising battle to the finish, with both candidates already trotting out attack ads. With the coming of Labor Day and the two-month mark til Election Day, expect the attacks to get more and more vicious.