A poll commissioned by the conservative Institute for Reforming Government found Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel with an edge on liberal rival Susan Crawford among registered voters.

The survey found 40% of respondents backed Schimel, who was identified as the conservative candidate in the question posed to respondents, to 35% who supported Crawford, who was described as the liberal candidate. Twenty-three percent said they weren’t sure, while 2% said they won’t vote.

The poll was in the field Jan. 17-21, missing much of the early ad war in the campaign. Schimel’s first TV ads began Jan. 19, while Crawford first went up on the air the day the survey came out of the field.

So far, AdImpact has tracked $1.4 million in ad buys from Schimel through Monday, while Crawford has reserved nearly $1.1 million. A Better Wisconsin Together, a liberal group that has run spots knocking Schimel, has reserved another $988,000.

The results that IRG shared with WisPolitics didn’t include any other questions on the two. Before asking the head-to-head, it posed a series of questions about the court, finding:

  • 50% supported the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing drop boxes for absentee ballots, while 43% were opposed.
  • 47% said they would support a Supreme Court candidate who supports Act 10, while 37% said they would back the one who opposes the 2011 law that stripped most public employees of their collective bargaining powers.
  • 22% said they favored the Supreme Court upholding a state law that bans abortion, while 46% preferred overturning the law and allowing the procedure up to 20 weeks and 25% said the justices should ask the Legislature and governor to pass a new law.

The survey of 800 randomly selected registered voters was conducted by Napolitan News Service online with the field work done by RMG Research Inc. at the direction of Scott Rasmussen. The sample was weighted by geography, gender, age, race, education, internet usage and political party to “reasonably reflect” the state’s registered voters and other “variables were reviewed” to ensure the sample matched that population.

The margin of error was plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

The poll also found 54% of respondents approve of the job Dem Gov. Tony Evers is doing, while President Donald Trump’s split was 48-49.

FiveThirtyEight gives RMG 2.3 out of three stars. It dropped Rasmussen’s Rasmussen Report from its ratings last year.