COLUMBUS, Ohio — A day after Ohio Democratic leaders expressed confidence in Joe Biden's chances to become president, state Republicans are doubling down on President Trump. GOP officials say the current polls are meaningless and Donald Trump has plenty of time to come back and win reelection.

What You Need To Know


  • Ohio Republicans feel polls are wrong

  • Ohio Republicans think Biden has dementia

  • Ohio Republicans criticize Biden for "being in the basement"

Ohio Republican Party Chairman Jane Timken says the polls were wrong in 2016 and they are wrong now. She says her people see enthusiasm for President Trump in Ohio and they are really excited for November 3.

The latest national poll shows former Vice President Biden with an 11-point lead over President Trump and more Democrats turned out to vote in the primary. Timken is not concerned.

“Obviously, these polls some are a little bit skewed. I think it feeds into a national media narrative that they always want the Democrat to win. You saw that in 2016 with Hillary Clinton. You saw pundits saying she had a 99.9 percent chance of winning the election in November, and we saw the result,” Timken said.

Trump has been facing nonstop scrutiny from Democrats over his handling of the pandemic, unemployment and racial unrest. Timken thinks he has succeeded.

“I think our voters and the voters in this country are going to wake up and see that Democrat failure of leadership, and Joe Biden, he’s hiding in his basement. You can’t lead from your basement. President Trump is leading,” Timken emphasized.

Biden has not held the public events Trump has, but his campaign largely attributes that to the ongoing pandemic. Republican Strategist Bob Clegg has another theory.

“I think part of that is he’s not mentally able to get into a lot of the details anymore and that’s the other big question. I mean, almost half the country believes he’s probably in early stage dementia,” said Clegg.

That theory, of course, has not been confirmed by any professionals, but what is true is Ohio has been known to be a bellwether state. Clegg and Timken think that trend will continue.

“I think it will be a bellwether state. I think it will vote for Trump again. I think the demographics in Ohio are such that it is a state that Donald Trump will win. We tend to be older, whiter and those are the areas that he does well in,” Clegg said.

“Who do you want leading us out of this economic downturn and leading us out of this pandemic? It’s President Trump, and the voters know that and they’re going to vote that way in November,” said Timken.

Clegg went as far as to guarantee Trump's victory in November saying, “Oh yeah. If I had to lay money down right now, I would put it on the President for sure.”

As far as the polls are concerned, Clegg believes “In the Trump political world, things change very quickly. Three months ago, Trump​'s numbers were good. Three months before that he was being impeached. So, God knows what’s going to happen three months from now.”

It should be noted President Trump was acquitted of all impeachment charges by a Republican-led Senate.