Baldwin tops Hovde by 7 points in Wisconsin Senate survey

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) is topping Republican challenger Eric Hovde by 7 points in her race for re-election, according to a Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday.

Baldwin leads Hovde among both registered and likely voters 53 percent to 46 percent. She’s polling slightly better than Vice President Harris, who is leading former President Trump 49 percent to 48 percent at the top of the ticket, in the same poll.

Forty-seven percent of respondents viewed Baldwin favorably compared to 36 percent for Hovde. Baldwin also has a 47 percent unfavorable rating, versus 45 percent for Hovde, a millionaire bank executive who unsuccessfully ran for Senate in 2012.

Support for Baldwin among registered voters rose one percentage point since Marquette’s last poll in September, while Hovde’s dropped by two percentage points.

This is Marquette’s third poll since President Biden dropped out of the presidential race in July and endorsed Harris for the party ticket. The Wisconsin Senate race, like the state’s presidential election, is being closely monitored as it is among a handful of swing states that could determine the balance of power in Washington.

Baldwin and Hovde will face off during an Oct. 18 debate in Madison hosted by the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Foundation. The debate will be shown on local television network WMTV-TV and broadcast on radio stations across the state. 

Marquette’s poll collected responses from 882 registered voters, between Sept. 18-26 with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. There were 798 likely voters, with the same margin of error.