Shontel Brown a distant second

With early voting set to begin in just over a month in the special election Democratic primary to select a nominee to succeed former Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, the first poll released on the race shows former state senator Nina Turner with a commanding lead over party chair Shontel Brown.

The Turner campaign released results showing their candidate with the support of 50% of likely voters. Brown is a distant second with fifteen percent, followed by former state senator Jeff Johnson with 4%.

The poll of 600 registered voters across the district was conducted by Tulchin Research by landline, cell phone, email, and text message from May 20-26.

Pollster Ben Tulchin said in an interview conducted with The Real Deal Press over Zoom that 30% of those polled were voters registered in Cleveland, with 60% from suburban Cuyahoga County; the remaining 10% were from Summit County voters. He said the percentages were reflective of past turnouts for selected elections and were indicative of likely voter distribution in the special election.

Tulchin and other campaign spokespersons said that Turner’s strength was across the board with all demographic groups. Turner was the favorite of 52% of black voters and 48% of white voters. 

The campaign declined to share results broken down by age or gender.

Besides the totals for Turner, Brown and Johnson, former state senator Shirley Smith polled at 3% while former state representative John Barnes and veteran Tariq Shabazz each polled at 2%. The poll has a margin of error of 4%.

Primary election day is August 3. Early in-person and absentee voting will begin July 7.

The last day to register to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary is Tuesday, July 6.

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