MILWAUKEE — Marquette University Law School will release the results of a statewide poll with an in-person event featuring Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll, and Derek Mosley, director of the school’s Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education, on Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 12:15 p.m., at Marquette Law School’s Eckstein Hall.
A complete news release and poll data, including toplines, crosstabs, and slides from the discussion, will be available on the Marquette Law School Poll website at 1:15 p.m., following the event. The event is free and open to the public; registration is required and available online. The program will be available to stream live online on the Marquette Law School website.
Interview availability with Franklin will include a gaggle for media in attendance following the program. Additional virtual and phone interviews will be available in the afternoon. Media interested in attending or scheduling an interview should contact Kevin Conway, associate director of university communication, at kevin.m.conway@marquette.edu in advance.
The Marquette Law School Poll’s survey of Wisconsin provides an early look at the upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court and gubernatorial elections as the public begins to form impressions of the likely candidates. The poll includes questions about how much attention voters are paying to the upcoming elections and whether they have heard enough about the candidates to have a favorable or unfavorable opinion, as well as about vote choice in the party primaries for governor.
The poll also looks at which issues voters think are most important to them, how the economy is performing, and the price of groceries. State issues include building new data centers in Wisconsin, concealed-carry gun laws, fear of crime, photo ID requirements for voting, election day voter registration, and requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. The survey also looks at satisfaction with public schools and support for school tax referenda. Approval of the job performance of the governor, legislature, and Wisconsin Supreme Court is included in the poll.
National issues include the federal government shutdown, extension of tax credits for health plans purchased through the Affordable Care Act marketplace, tariffs, and inflation, along with opinions of state and national political figures.
The Marquette Law School Poll has achieved considerable renown through its surveys of Wisconsin and the nation more generally. Established in 2012, it has become the most extensive statewide polling project in Wisconsin history, setting the standard for public opinion research in the state. Since 2019, the Law School’s surveys of national public opinion about the U.S. Supreme Court and selected political issues have expanded the work of the poll both geographically and topically.
This work has been nationally recognized for its accuracy and transparency. Among more than 500 pollsters across the United States, for example, the Marquette Law School Poll has been ranked second by Nate Silver’s Silver Bulletin. FiveThirtyEight.com ranked the poll third, awarding it also the nation’s only perfect 10 score for transparency.
Franklin has directed the poll since its inception in 2012. A professor of law and public policy at Marquette Law School, Franklin also served on the ABC News election night Decision Desk from 2002 to 2020. He is a past president of the Society for Political Methodology and an elected fellow of the society; he holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan.
Mosley has served as Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education director since 2023. Under his leadership, the Law School’s Lubar Center has expanded its programming to include sessions during Black History Month and on unconscious bias, as well as Heritage Dinners in the community. A 1995 graduate of Marquette Law School, Mosley served as a judge of the Milwaukee Municipal Court for 20 years.
Through public programming such as the Marquette Law School Poll, “On the Issues” conversations with newsmakers, public lectures by leading scholars, conferences on issues of public significance, and the work of its Lubar Center, Marquette Law School seeks to advance civil discourse about law and public policy matters.
