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From the journalists at NBC News and the NBC News Political Unit

Sherrod Brown attends a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing
Sherrod Brown attends a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing, on July 12, 2022.Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images file

Poll: Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown locked in tight race for reelection

It's still early in the Ohio Republican primary, but Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown has an edge over each of his potential challengers, per a new poll.

By Alexandra Marquez

Just over half of Ohio registered voters approve of the job Sen. Sherrod Brown is doing in Congress, according to a new USA Today-Suffolk University poll of the state. But the Democratic incumbent is still locked in a tough race for reelection in a reddening state.

Brown has narrow leads in two potential head-to-head matchups against Republicans and is tied with another, the poll shows. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden's approval rating in the state is just 41%.

Republican Secretary of state Frank LaRose, who just jumped into the Senate race this week, is tied with Brown at 45 percent apiece.

When asked whether voters prefer Brown or GOP state Sen. Matt Dolan, another contender for the Republican nomination for Senate, 46% of voters say they prefer Brown and 43% say they prefer Dolan.

Brown enjoys the widest edge over businessman Bernie Moreno, who is also in the race for the Republican nomination. Brown was preferred by 48% of those surveyed, to 41% of voters who preferred Moreno.

The poll's margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

So far, a majority, or about 57%, of GOP voters surveyed in this poll are undecided about who they'll vote for in the GOP Senate primary. But Brown is gearing up for a competitive race regardless of who Republican voters nominate to go head to head with him.

In the second quarter of this year, Brown raised over $5 million for his re-election bid.

He'll likely have to significantly outrun Biden, who will be running for reelection at the top of the ticket next year. Biden trailed former President Donald Trump in the poll's presidential ballot test.

In 2020, Biden lost Ohio to Trump by more than 8 percentage points. And just last year, now-Sen. JD Vance, a Republican, beat then-Rep. Tim Ryan, a Democrat, by more than 6 percentage points in the race for an open Senate seat.

The USA Today-Suffolk University poll was conducted from July 9 - July 12. The survey polled 500 registered voters in the state with live telephone callers. The poll has a margin of error of +/-4.4 percentage points.

Alexandra Marquez

Alexandra Marquez is a politics reporter for NBC News.