Poll: Biden leads Trump by 4 points in Ohio

Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden has a 4-point lead over President Trump in Ohio, according to a new poll.

The survey conducted by Your Voice Ohio, a news media collaboration in the state, found Biden at 46 percent and Trump at 42 percent.

The survey also found Biden’s supporters are more enthusiastic about voting for the former vice president — 31 percent said they strongly support Biden, compared to 26 percent of Trump supporters who said they strongly support the president. Most national polls have found Trump benefiting from an enthusiasm gap over Biden.

The poll, which was reported by The Blade in Toledo, was conducted by the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron and the Center for Marketing and Opinion Research in Akron.

“No Republican has ever been elected or reelected in American history without carrying Ohio, so there’s a particular burden on Trump and his allies and supporters to compete effectively in Ohio,” John Green, director emeritus of the Bliss Institute, told The Blade. “These numbers forecast a very competitive race in the state.”

Trump won Ohio by 8 points in 2016, and most Democrats did not enter the cycle believing the state would be in play for 2020.

However, the Trump campaign has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars advertising in Ohio, a sign that it views the Buckeye State as competitive.

Several recent polls have found Biden ahead of or running even with Trump in Ohio, including a Fox News survey from June that found Biden leading by 2 points.

Ohio has nine counties that voted for President Obama in 2012 and then flipped to Trump in 2016, making it the state with the seventh most “pivot counties” in the country.

The Your Voice Ohio poll of 1,037 registered voters was conducted from June 24 to July 15 and has a 3 percentage point margin of error.