They are bad results, but Larry tells us that a little Ohio-based bird (who is in the know) reports that on Get Out The Vote calls, they were finding a lot of Republicans unaware of the Special Election entirely.
So, based on that, it might be that (R)s are motivated and we won't be able to tell until Nov.
When you properly assign “Unaffiliated” as to the party they have voted for since 2000, Rs in OH have a “low turnout” edge over the Ds of about 250,000 and a “high turnout” edge of about 467,000.
A high turnout HELPS the Rs, contrary to popular myth.