KC
02-26-2013, 02:47 PM
Scott Walker's approval numbers have dropped since November. On our final pre-election poll we found 51% of Wisconsin voters approving of him to 46% who disapproved. That's dropped now to 48% approval and 49% disapproval. The decline has come mostly with Democrats, who have gone from 15% approval of him down to 9%. Nevertheless Walker leads all but one of the Democrats we tested against him. He's up 4 points on Ron Kind at 46/42, 5 on Peter Barca at 48/43, 6 on Jon Erpenbach at 48/42, 7 on Steve Kagen at 48/41, and 9 on Mahlon Mitchell at 48/39.
The Democrat with the best shot at Walker- just as we found in all of our pre-recall election polling last year- would be Russ Feingold. Feingold has thoroughly rehabilitated his image after his 2010 loss and is now seen favorably by 53% of voters in the state to 37% with a negative opinion. That makes him more popular than any other major political figure in the state. He would start out leading Walker 49/47 in a hypothetical head to head, including a 52/42 lead with independents.
It wouldn't be so awful to have a Walker vs. Feingold election in 2014. I don't agree with Feingold on all that many issues, but he's got a particularly good reputation for a Democrat, given he was the only US Senator to vote against the Patriot Act, which I definitely give him points for.
I would still probably vote for a third party candidate with no chance of winning, but it would be interesting to see how it would play out.
The Democrat with the best shot at Walker- just as we found in all of our pre-recall election polling last year- would be Russ Feingold. Feingold has thoroughly rehabilitated his image after his 2010 loss and is now seen favorably by 53% of voters in the state to 37% with a negative opinion. That makes him more popular than any other major political figure in the state. He would start out leading Walker 49/47 in a hypothetical head to head, including a 52/42 lead with independents.
It wouldn't be so awful to have a Walker vs. Feingold election in 2014. I don't agree with Feingold on all that many issues, but he's got a particularly good reputation for a Democrat, given he was the only US Senator to vote against the Patriot Act, which I definitely give him points for.
I would still probably vote for a third party candidate with no chance of winning, but it would be interesting to see how it would play out.