Governor Scott Walker’s re-election campaign received some good news from the results of the latest Marquette University Law School Poll released Wednesday.
Walker’s approval rating is now at 49 percent compared to a disapproval rating of 47 percent, the first time more have approved of Walker’s performance than disapproved since October 2014. When asked if the state is on the right track, 52 percent said Wisconsin is on the right track while 42 percent said the state is on the wrong track.
The poll was conducted June 13 to 17, with 800 registered Wisconsin voters interviewed by landline and cell phone. The margin of error on the full sample is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Democrats are still undecided on who will take on Walker in the November election. Of the Democrats polled, 34 percent are still undecided, and only Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers reached 25 percent support. All of the other Democratic candidates for governor polled at less than 10 percent. Kelda Roys, the winner of a straw poll at the Democratic Party’s state convention, only received 2 percent support, a slight improvement over the 0 percent she received in the last poll.
The margin of error for questions asked only of the Democrats is 6.4 percent.
Walker leads all of his Democratic rivals in head-to-head polling, including Evers who receives 44 percent support to Walker’s 48 percent.
In the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, Kevin Nicholson leads state Sen. Leah Vukmir (R-Brookfield) 37 percent to 32 percent. However, with 30 percent undecided and a margin of error of 6.9 percentage points, the race remains wide open.
Interestingly, Nicholson leads Vukmir among Republican women voters, 39 percent to 26 percent:
Republicans still want to know more about the two senate candidates, with 69 percent saying they don’t know enough about Nicholson while 72 percent still don’t know enough about Vukmir. The two candidates will face each other in the August primary, with the winner facing U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) in November.
Meanwhile, Baldwin continues to be more unpopular than popular. Of those polled, 37 percent have a favorable view of Baldwin while 39 percent have an unfavorable view of the senator. The percentages are the same as they were in the March poll.
Despite her unfavorable rating, Baldwin still maintains a substantial lead over both of her Republican rivals in head-to-head polling. Baldwin leads Nicholson 50 percent to 39 percent with 7 percent undecided. Baldwin leads Vukmir 49 percent to 40 percent with 8 percent undecided.
Democrats still maintain a lead in voter enthusiasm: 71 percent of Democrats are very excited to vote in the midterm elections while 67 percent of Republicans are very excited. However, the gap was 10 points in March. Dr. Charles Franklin, who directs the poll for Marquette University Law School, cautioned that enthusiasm tends to bounce up and down in midterm election years.
