Politics & Government

New Poll Shows Obama, Thompson Lead Among State Voters

Results from a new Marquette University Law School poll put the president and former Governor tops with likely voters from around the state.

If the 2012 Presidential and US Senate elections were held today, President Barack Obama and former Gov. Tommy Thompson would win in Wisconsin.

The results were released today as part of the Marquette University Law School poll project during "On the Issues" with Mike Gousha and Professor Charles Franklin.

According to the numbers, Obama leads presumed Republican challenger Mitt Romney 49 to 43 percent, down from 51 to 43 percent on May 30.

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In a match-up against both his Republican senate rivals and Democrat Tammy Baldwin, Thompson takes both races. Against former US Rep. Mark Neumann, newcomer Eric Hovde, and Republican speaker of the State Assembly Jeff Fitzgerald, Thompson comes in with 34 percent of support from likely voters compared to 16, 14, and 10 percent, respectively. Against Baldwin, he leads 49 to 41 percent.

When matched up against Hovde and Fitzgerald, Baldwin comes out ahead; 45 to 36 percent and 45 to 39 percent, respectively. Baldwin and Neumann tie at 44 percent each.

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Unlike the recent historic recalls where undecided voters were less than five percent, when it comes to the US senate race here, a full 25 percent of likely voters haven't made up their minds, but it is early going.

About those recalls ...

Speaking of the recall elections, the poll also asked some 707 registered voters - 594 likely voters - how they felt about the elections now that they're over.

When it comes to how Wisconsin should do recall elections, voters have flipped from responses recorded in January. Then, 43 percent said recalls should only happen in the case of criminal activity while an official is in office and 50 percent said our way of doing recall is just fine. Now, though, it's the other way around; 50 percent want recalls only in the case of criminal mischief and 44 percent want to leave the law as it is.

Not surprisingly, Gov. Scott Walker garnered 70 percent of the vote for those who want to limit recalls while Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barret grabbed 61 percent of those who think the way we do recalls is just fine. Among those who disapprove of the job he's doing, Walker also managed to snag 4 percent of voters who don't want changes to recall and 8 percent of voters who do want changes.

Where the poll gets interesting is among those who didn't cast a ballot at all but disapprove of Walker and want recall limits, about 26 percent. That number gets halved - 13 percent - among those who didn't vote while continuing to disapprove of Walker and supporting the current recall laws.

Can't we all just get along?

Representatives in Madison and in Washington, D.C. may want to pay attention to how voters feel about all the partisanship games being played on the state and federal levels.

According to Marquette's latest poll, a full 84 percent of voters want officials on both sides of the aisle reaching across it more often. Only 11 percent said it was perfectly okay for the parties to stand for different things and have limited cooperation.

Just over half - 55 percent - of those surveyed were optimistic about the possibility of cooperation while 41 percent said it's too out of reach. Among those who feel like bipartisanship can be a reality, a full 61 percent of them identified as Republicans while 58 percent of Independents and 48 percent of Democrats could agree.

Healthcare reform

The United States Supreme Court is going to issue its opinion soon about whether or not Pres. Obama's healthcare law is constitutional so Marquette asked voters what they think.

Around a third of voters - 33 percent - think the high court should leave the law alone, but 38 percent want the entire thing turned over. Only 19 percent said the part of the law mandating individuals have insurance should be overturned.

Overall, the majority of voters approve of the job SCOTUS is doing over those who disapprove; 46 to 35 percent.

The Marquette poll was conducted via landline and cell phone from June 13-16, 2012 with a 3.8 percent margin of error.


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