Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy's ad featuring Democratic rival Amy Acton's estranged mother didn't win over voters, according to a new Suffolk University-USA TODAY Ohio poll.
If anything, the ad may have made voters view Ramaswamy less favorably, said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center.
Ramaswamy, who is backed by President Donald Trump,launched an ad Oct. 22 featuring Acton's estranged motheraccusing her daughter of lying about her past and her political opponent. Acton hasn't spoken to her mother, Donna Arthur, since 1978, when her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was charged with rape for sexually abusing a young Acton. The Arthurs
left Ohio before Cledith Arthur could face trial.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine and former Gov. John Kasich called on Ramaswamyto take down the ad, but he doubled down, spending more than $4 million to air it through Election Day. Trump encouraged Ramaswamy to keep running it.
Nearly three-quarters of those polled, 72%, had seen or heard about the ad within days of its release. But it changed few minds. Seven respondents said the ad caused them to switch from Ramaswamy to Acton. Only one respondent said the ad caused them to switch from Acton to Ramaswamy.
"You only do an ad like that if you're trailing by a large margin," Paleologos said of Ramaswamy's "Hail Mary strategy." "You have to take a gamble, and sometimes the gamble pays off, and you score, and sometimes the pass gets intercepted or blocked."
New poll shows Acton, Ramaswamy locked in a tight race
In the new poll conducted after the ad ran, the Ohio governor's race was too close to call. Acton had a slight edge over Ramaswamy, 48% to 44%, while Libertarian candidate Don Kissick received 3.6%. The poll of 500 likely voters was conducted Oct. 21-26 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
The poll also surveyed 300 additional likely voters in Portage County, a longtime political bellwether east of Akron, which Trump won by more than 15 percentage points in 2024. Of those polled, 47.3% backed Acton, 46.7% supported Ramaswamy and Kissick pulled 2%. The margin of error for that subset was plus or minus 5.6 percentage points.
Paleologos said pollsters captured Ramaswamy's support better in the October poll than in their September one, where Acton led Ramaswamy, 50.4%-41.4%. This time, pollsters conducted callback sessions with people who initially said they were undecided or refused to answer. But ultimately, "Ramaswamy still isn't anywhere near where he needs to be," Paleologos said.
Did the ad hurt Ramaswamy more than Acton?
The poll indicates the ad likely hurt Ramaswamy's image more than Acton's. According to the new results, 54.2% had an unfavorable view of Ramaswamy, up from 52.2% in last month's poll. About 41% had an unfavorable view of Acton, which was the same as last month's poll.
Brenda Malcolm, of Columbus' Northland neighborhood, said she still hasn't decided who she'll pick for Ohio governor, but the ad made her lean toward Acton.
“It just totally ticked me off,” said Malcolm, who described herself as an independent voter. “To go contact a mother that hasn’t seen her daughter in 50 years and get this statement from her. The mother doesn’t know anything about Amy.”
But Leah Kelm, 35, who lives in Northeast Ohio, said she would choose anyone over Acton, the state's former health director during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m not 100% sure I think he's running a super effective campaign," Kelm said of Ramaswamy. "I just remember Amy Acton doing her wine with DeWine during COVID and feeling a little lied to with the whole COVID response."
Those polled were much more likely to say Ramaswamy was running a negative campaign, 49.8% of respondents, than Acton, 15.2%. Another 11.6% of respondents said both candidates were to blame for the negativity in the governor's race.
Could Libertarian Kissick be the 'kiss of death' for Ramaswamy?
Brandon Freeman, 45, of Toledo, isn't voting for Acton or Ramaswamy after criticizing them for "throwing dirt on each other’s names." He instead backed Libertarian candidate Kissick, saying government should be less involved in people's lives.
“They pay all this money for all of this advertising going into their campaign, and it’s 90% slander," Freeman said of Ramaswamy and Acton. "Just boost yourself. Tell people what you’re going to do that’s really going to make a change and difference and stop focusing on the other candidates."
If enough Ohioans vote like Freeman, Ramaswamy could be in trouble, Paleologos said. Among independents polled, Kissick got 7% of the vote, compared to 58% for Acton and 25% for Ramaswamy.
"(Kissick) is a ballot option for people who are conservatives, who will never vote Democratic but are just not excited about Ramaswamy, either because of the ad or because they just don't like him," Paleologos said.
If Kissick pulls a few percentage points from Ramaswamy, Acton wouldn't have to win the majority of the gubernatorial vote, Paleologos said.
"The 50% rule is out the window if Kissick gets 3%," he said. "Kissick could be the kiss of death for Ramaswamy."
Reporters Haley BeMiller and Emma Wozniak contributed to this article.
State government reporter Jessie Balmert can be reached at jbalmert@usatodayco.com or @jbalmert on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: New poll shows Ramaswamy's ad of Acton's mother didn't win over voters
