Ramaswamy almost tied with Democrat Acton in Ohio governor race: Poll

A new poll conducted by Bowling Green State University (BGSU) found that GOP frontrunner Vivek Ramaswamy is in a dead heat with presumptive Democratic nominee Amy Acton in the Ohio gubernatorial race.

The survey of 1,000 registered voters in the Buckeye State found that 48 percent of respondents backed Ramaswamy — who has endorsements from President Trump, Vice President Vance and GOP establishment figures — while 47 percent backed Acton. Five percent of respondents said they will back another candidate, less than six months until Election Day.

The poll has a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points.

Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur who ran for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is also the clear favorite in the GOP primary based on the poll. More than three-quarters of 383 respondents said they wanted him to be the party’s nominee, with 12 percent each backing businessman Casey Putsch and former Morgan Local School District Board President Heather Hill.

Acton, the former director of the Ohio Department of Health under Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), is running unopposed in the primary, which is set for May 5. Early in-person voting began April 7 and runs through May 3, according to the office of Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R).

One notable tidbit from the poll: Of 47 supporters of Putsch who were surveyed, 23 percent said that they will still write his name on their ballot in November if he is not the GOP nominee. More than half of that group said they would back Ramaswamy, while 13 percent said they would for Acton, 5 percent said they would vote for another candidate and 3 percent said they would not vote.

The winner of the general race will succeed DeWine, a two-term incumbent and longtime mainstay of Ohio politics.

Just 7 percent of 1,000 respondents to the BGSU poll said they “strongly” approve of how DeWine is handling his job. One-third of respondents said they “somewhat” approve of his performance, while more than half expressed varying degrees of disapproval with the governor.

A plurality of respondents, 46 percent, also said that Ohio is on the wrong track, greater than the 35 percent of those who said the state is headed in the right direction and 18 percent who were unsure.

In 2025, Ohio had the 23rd-lowest cost of living among all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., according to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center. It had a lower cost of living than neighboring Pennsylvania, but a higher cost of living than neighboring Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia.

On the campaign trail, Ramaswamy and Acton have stumped for their vision of Ohio.

“What can we deliver? Continually lower costs, bigger paychecks, better schools. A revival of that American dream, on this 250th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence,” Ramaswamy told host Jesse Watters on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

After a visit to Perry County earlier this month, Acton wrote on the social platform X, “As governor, it will be my mission to bring down rising costs and end the corruption in Columbus so that hardworking Ohioans can get ahead again.”

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