Evers, Johnson see lagging approval in Wisconsin: poll

Both Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) are seeing lagging approval among their constituents as over half of registered Wisconsin voters in a new poll signal they would vote for someone other than either incumbent.

A Marquette Law School Poll published on Wednesday found that 53 percent of registered Wisconsin voters surveyed would vote for someone else besides Evers, while 40 percent said they’d vote to reelect him. About 6 percent said they did not know or declined to say.

The poll found a similar breakdown among registered voters for Johnson: 52 percent of those respondents would opt to vote for someone else, 38 percent said they would vote to reelect Johnson and 10 percent said they were unsure or declined to say.

Registered voters’ view of Evers had steadily declined — 42 percent of respondents view the Wisconsin governor favorably while 45 percent view him unfavorably. In August, by comparison, 46 percent viewed him favorably while 42 percent felt the opposite.

Johnson has maintained consistent favorability ratings among voters over the last few months. The Republican senator was viewed favorably by 36 percent of respondents — 1 percentage point up since August — but he is still viewed unfavorable by 42 percent.

Compared to President Biden, Evers has a slightly better job approval rating. Evers received a 45 percent positive job rating compared to Biden’s 43 percent. 

The president has been mired in low approval numbers as he sought to tackle a range of issues this year including high inflation and a supply chain crisis, fighting among progressives and moderates in his party over two key bills and lasting criticism over the U.S.’s evacuation from Afghanistan, among other factors.  

Those results come as gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin (R) won Virginia’s governor’s race, according to The Associated Press, which called the race after midnight on Wednesday. It was seen as a stinging rebuke to the Democratic Party, especially as his rival, former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, enlisted the support of Biden and others during his campaign. 

The Marquette Law School Poll was conducted between Oct. 26 and Oct. 31 and interviewed 805 registered voters in the state by cell phone and landline. The margin of error for the full sample is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.