Ryan leading Vance by 2 points in Ohio Senate race: survey 

Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan, the state’s Democratic nominee for Senate, has a slim 2-point lead over Republican J.D. Vance, new polling shows.  

Ohio Northern University’s new poll found Ryan ahead with 43 percent to Vance’s 41 percent as the two vie to replace retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman. However, the results were within the poll’s 3.8-point margin of error.

Both candidates are pulling much of their support from their respective parties, with 79 percent of Democrats saying they support Ryan and 65 percent of Republicans backing Vance. A larger share of Republicans say they’d cross party lines to vote for Ryan (18 percent) than Democrats who’d do the same for Vance (9 percent).

The 2-point overall difference in Ryan’s favor reflects different polling than a USA Today-Suffolk University poll released Monday, which showed Vance leading by 2 points instead, with 47 percent to Ryan’s 45 percent. That survey’s margin of error was 4.4 percentage points. 

The new Northern Poll results pile onto a number of recent surveys suggesting a close race between the two candidates as both parties look to secure another seat in the upper chamber.

The poll was conducted Oct. 11-15 and surveyed 668 likely Ohio voters.