Most of Ohio’s GOP primary electorate says it’s important that their next US senator show support for Donald Trump, according to the initial results of CNN’s exit poll for the state’s Republican presidential and Senate primaries.
Roughly 7 in 10 say it’s at least somewhat important that the next senator support the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, with more than half saying it’s very important.
Tuesday’s primary is this year’s first test of Trump’s endorsement power in a contested Senate race. The winner of the GOP nod will take on Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in a race that could shape the balance of power in the Senate. The three-term incumbent is one of two Democrats running for reelection in a state that Trump twice carried.
Roughly 8 in 10 voters supporting businessman Bernie Moreno – Trump’s preferred candidate in the Senate primary – say that it’s very important that Ohio’s next senator back Trump. By contrast, loyalty to Trump is similarly important to only about half of those supporting Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, and fewer than one-third of those backing state Sen. Matt Dolan.
On the direction of the party: Voters in Ohio’s GOP Senate primary are largely split between saying the Republican Party as a whole is insufficiently conservative or about right ideologically. Only about one-fifth say the party is too conservative. Meanwhile, 8 in 10 describe themselves as conservatives.
More on the polling: Exit polls are a valuable tool to help understand primary voters’ demographic profile and political views. Like all surveys, however, exit polls are estimates, not precise measurements of the electorate. That’s particularly true for the preliminary set of exit poll numbers, which haven’t yet been weighted to match the final results of the primary. But the results provide a glimpse of the types of voters turning out.
