Vivek Ramaswamy trailed Democrat Amy Acton in a flurry of public polls released ahead of Election Day in the Ohio governor’s race, which was upended late last month after the Republican candidate faced a wave of backlash over a campaign advertisement featuring Acton’s estranged mother. Democrats have become increasingly optimistic about their chances of winning the Ohio governorship for the first time since 2006 amid the fallout of the ad, which defined the race in its final stretch. Ohio has emerged as a midterm battleground this year despite its rightward drift over the past decades.
The Buckeye State was a premier battleground for much of the 2000s, having backed former President Barack Obama twice before voting for President Donald Trump in all three of his races, including by 11 points in 2024. Trump’s inroads with rural, white voters helped shift the state into the Republican column. But Trump’s declining approval rating, as well as voter frustration over the economy and the cost of living, made the Ohio governor’s race competitive even before the ad backlash.
Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who rose to national prominence during his 2024 presidential run, is running against Acton, who led the Ohio Department of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Forecasters like the Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball give Acton an edge, classifying it as leaning toward the Democratic candidate. Polling has been close but favored Acton in the final stretch of the campaign.
As of Monday, RealClearPolitics gave Acton a 4.7-point lead over Ramaswamy. Newsweek reached out to the Acton and Ramaswamy campaigns for comment via email. The latest poll of the race from The New York Times and Siena University showed Acton up 6 points, 49 percent to 43 percent, among 717 likely voters from October 26 to November 1.
It had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points. Acton also led by 3 points in a poll from InsiderAdvantage, 49 percent to 46 percent. It surveyed 1,200 likely voters on October 29 and 30, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.83 percentage points.
A YouGov poll gave Acton a 6-point lead, 52 percent to 46 percent, among 2,082 likely voters from October 26 to 29. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. Acton also led by 5 points in a Suffolk University poll of 500 likely voters from October 21 to 26, with 48 percent support to Ramaswamy’s 44 percent.
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