COLUMBUS, Ohio —  We are 120 days away from Election Day and the race for the White House is neck and neck in the state of Ohio. FiveThirtyEight says the likely Democratic nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Trump by nearly three points in its poll. However, the state's Democratic Party says it's not taking anything for granted.

What You Need To Know


  • Biden leads Trump by 9 in national polls

  • No president in the modern-day has been re-elected with unemployment in double digits

  • Suburbs expected to vote heavily for Biden

Ohio Democratic Chairman David Pepper says while President Trump won Ohio four years ago, this is now a different state. He says areas that have historically voted Republican, like the suburbs of Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland, are now aligning themselves with Democrats.

“People are waking up in Ohio, a state that voted for Trump, and saying his policies aren’t working here and his promises are broken here,” said Pepper.

In 2016, Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton ​in Ohio by eight points. He also took 81 of the state's 88 counties. Yet the latest national polls show the president trailing Joe Biden.

“In this case, what’s going on is Donald Trump is in deep, Donald Trump is in deep doo doo," Democratic Strategist Dale Butland said.

Butland believes Trump has three things currently working against him: the pandemic, unemployment in double digits, and racial unrest.

“No President in modern times has ever been reelected with double-digit unemployment and Donald Trump won’t either,” said Butland.

David Pepper has been at the head of the Ohio Democratic Party the last five years. He says the state's economy was in dire straits prior to the pandemic and Ohioans can just look at what happened with the GM plant in Lordstown for proof.

“He said don’t sell your home, everything is going to be great, and then when GM told Lordstown that they were closing and crushing that community, Donald Trump didn’t come back. He actually told them that it was the workers' fault,” explained Pepper.

Pepper says with all the mistakes Trump has made, the strategy is simple.

“To make sure we have the highest turnout possible of dedicated Democrats, but then we also reach out to these voters who are up in the air or who have switched sides and make sure they hear from us between now and November to keep them where they are,” said Pepper.

For the first time in 12 years, more Democrats voted in the Ohio primary than Republicans.​ One area of voters has also changed things up.

“Suburbs are going big for Biden and unless Trump can reverse that somehow, I don’t see how he wins the state,” Butland said.

And as we know, whoever has won this state since 1964 has gone on to win the presidency.

“We have a long way to go yet, so a lot of things can happen, but if the current trends hold, Donald Trump will not only lose, but he’s going to lose in a landslide,” said Butland.

Pepper says should Biden win Ohio, that is the ballgame. Then once Biden becomes president, it is time to get to work.