In a new Marist Institute poll, Moreno is trailing Sen. Sherrod Brown (pictured below) by five points, 50%-45%. Donald Trump leads Joe Biden 48%-41% in the same poll.
That poll is good news for Trump, who won Ohio in 2020 and needs its 17 electoral votes, but flipping that Senate seat could help the Republican Party greatly.
Tom Zawistowski, president of the We the People Convention, tells AFN the challenge for Moreno is name recognition because the businessman is a first-time candidate for public office.
“And so a lot of people still don't know who he is,” Zawistowski advises.
Moreno, who was endorsed by Trump, won a three-way primary that included a state senator and Frank LaRose, the Ohio secretary of state.
Viewed by Democrats as the weakest of the three GOP candidates, Moreno was helped by a Democrat PAC that spent nearly $3 million to elevate his campaign, according to an Associated Press story from March.
Zawistowski, who disputes the Marist poll, says the race is more likely a dead heat since the GOP candidate can depend on riding Trump’s political coattails on Election Day.
“But Bernie's going to have to work hard,” he says, “and we, the patriots, are going to have to work hard to win that.”
