Feingold leads Johnson by double-digits in Senate rematch

The Democrat’s likely Senate nominee in Wisconsin, Russ Feingold, leads incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) by double-digits, according to a poll released on Wednesday.

{mosads}The Marquette Law School Poll finds Feingold with a 50–36 lead over Johnson, who has been targeted by Democrats as a vulnerable seat in 2016. The party needs a net gain of five seats to regain control of the Senate.  

Feingold, who is trying to reclaim the Senate seat he held for 18 years until he was ousted by Johnson in 2010, has increased his lead since the last poll conducted in August, which found him ahead by a 47–42 margin.

Marquette Law School professor Charles Franklin, who directed the poll, stressed the volatility of the numbers this early in the race.

The poll found that many voters were not able to say whether they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of either candidate.

“Many voters have not tuned in yet,” Franklin said.

Johnson spokesman Brian Reisinger downplayed the significance of the poll.

“The wild swings in these early polls show just how meaningless they are,” Reisinger told the Wisconsin State Journal. “Senator Feingold led all the early polls in 2010 — until Wisconsinites proved the professional political class wrong.”

Feingold campaign spokesman Tom Russell said the poll is indicative of the Democratic challenger’s appeal among middle-class families in the Badger State.

“This is going to be a hard-fought race, but it’s clear Russ continues to lead the incumbent senator in polling because he’s running a campaign built on listening to Wisconsinites and fighting for middle class and working families,” Russell said in a statement.

The poll of 803 registered voters was conducted from Sept. 24-28 and has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.