At Bowling Green State University, Melissa Miller and David Jackson, both faculty members in the university’s department of political science, have worked with the university’s office of communications and contracted with Zogby Analytics to poll likely Ohio voters on their preferences among the presidential candidates of both parties.

This poll is the first sponsored by BGSU. According to Jennifer Sobolewski, the university’s communications manager, the total cost of the poll was $9,500. She suggested that the poll will “raise BGSU’s visibility.”

BGSU is located in Wood County is a swing county in Ohio, which has become one of the most consistent swing states in the nation with a substantial number of electoral votes.

In an article on the poll published in the Toledo Blade, Miller points out that “Wood County’s record of voting for the winning presidential candidate is second longest in the state, after Ottawa County. Wood County last supported the losing presidential candidate in 1976, while Ottawa County last voted for the losing candidate in 1960.”

Zogby Analytics conducted online interviews with more than 800 registered voters, almost equally divided among Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.

The results of the poll are consistent with other recent polls of voters nationally and in individual states, with Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump the clear frontrunners. But, if the election were held today, Clinton would beat Trump in Ohio by about 11% of the vote, a larger margin than in some other swing states.

The article in the Toledo Blade, written by Tom Troy, is available at: http://www.toledoblade.com/Politics/2015/10/21/BGSU-poll-Trump-Clinton-lead-in-Ohio.html#f9CWEPF6geMiXMBj.99