State Superintendent Tony Evers continued to lead the Dem field for guv in the latest Marquette University Law School Poll, while the GOP U.S. Senate primary was neck-and-neck.
In the Senate, state Sen. Leah Vukmir was backed by 34 percent of those surveyed who said they plan to vote in the GOP primary, while 32 percent backed business consultant and former Marine Kevin Nicholson.
That was well within the margin of error of plus or minus 7 points. Still, the poll results have changed from March, when Nicholson was up by 9 points and June, when 37 backed him, compared to 32 percent who favored Vukmir.
On the Dem guv side, Evers was backed by 31 percent of those who said they will vote in the Aug. 14 party primary. No one else topped 6 percent, and 38 percent of respondents were undecided.
For the rest of the field: state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout and Mahlon Mitchell, head of the statewide firefighters union, were backed by 6 percent each; Milwaukee attorney Matt Flynn was at 5 percent; Madison Mayor Paul Soglin was at 4 percent; former state Rep. Kelda Roys and activist Mike McCabe were at 3 percent each; and Kenosha attorney Josh Pade was at zero percent.
Unlike last month’s poll, the survey didn’t include head-to-head matchups in the Senate or guv races.
Still, it found 47 percent approved of Gov. Scott Walker’s job performance, while 45 percent didn’t. That’s compared to 49-47 in June.
Forty-one percent had a favorable impression of U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, while 40 percent didn’t. That’s compared to 41-43 in June.
The poll also found the right track-wrong track number unchanged from last month at 52-42.
The survey of 800 registered voters was conducted Wednesday through Sunday. Half of the surveys were conducted over cell phones, and the margin of error for the full sample was plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.
In the GOP Senate race, 266 who said they planned to vote in the primary were surveyed, resulting in a margin of error of plus or minus 7 percentage points. On the Dem side, 305 who said they planned to vote in the primary were surveyed, resulting in a margin of error of plus or minus 6.6 percentage points.