Also:
- Less than two months from Supreme Court election, about two-thirds of voters say they are undecided
- Large field of Democratic candidates for governor has no clear leader, most candidates are unknown to many
- Voters have turned against data centers since October, seeing costs as outweighing benefits
- Disapproval of ICE is 56%; 61% say fatal shooting of Alex Pretti was not justified
- Record number say property tax reduction is more important than increased K-12 school funding
Please note: Complete Poll results and methodology information can be found online at law.marquette.edu/poll
MILWAUKEE — A new Marquette Law School Poll survey of Wisconsin registered voters finds that, with six weeks to go until the April 7 Supreme Court election, 66% say they haven’t decided whom they will vote for. Those who have made a decision support Chris Taylor with 17% to Maria Lazar at 12%. Among likely voters, those who say they are certain to vote in April, 22% support Taylor and 15% favor Lazar, with 62% undecided.
Among Democrats, 73% say they are certain to vote in the April 7 court election, while 67% of Republicans and 62% of independents are certain they will vote.
Only 6% say they have heard a lot about the Court race, while 55% have heard a little and 38% have heard nothing at all. In October, 6% had heard a lot, 46% had heard a little, and 47% had heard nothing. This year’s court race contrasts with the 2025 court election when, in February, 39% had heard a lot about the race, 42% had heard a little, and 19% had heard nothing at all.
The survey was conducted Feb. 11-19, 2026, interviewing 818 Wisconsin registered voters, with a margin of error of +/-4.3 percentage points. The sample size for Republican primary voters is 371, with a margin of error of +/-6.4 percentage points. The sample size for Democratic primary voters is 394, with a margin of error of +/-6.3 percentage points.
Registered voters say they haven’t learned enough to have a clear idea of what the candidates in the April 7 election for the Supreme Court stand for. Twenty-one percent are clear about Taylor and 15% are clear about Lazar. There has been some increase in knowledge of the candidates since October, but most voters say they are unclear or haven’t heard enough, as shown in Table 1. (All results in the tables are stated as percentages.)
Table 1: Have a clear idea what Supreme Court candidates stand for
Among registered voters
| Poll dates | Clear idea or not | ||
| Have a clear idea | Not clear what candidate stands for | Haven’t heard enough | |
| Lazar | |||
| 2/11-19/26 | 15 | 23 | 62 |
| 10/15-22/25 | 10 | 21 | 69 |
| Taylor | |||
| 2/11-19/26 | 21 | 21 | 59 |
| 10/15-22/25 | 11 | 19 | 69 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, Wisconsin surveys, latest: Feb. 11-19, 2026 | |||
| Question: In the election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, do you have a clear idea of what [Maria Lazar][Chris Taylor] stands for, or are you not clear about what she stands for, or have you not heard enough about her yet? | |||
In February 2025, 51% had a clear idea of what candidate Brad Schimel stood for and 41% were clear about candidate Susan Crawford.
A substantial majority now say they haven’t heard enough about either candidate to have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of them. The ability to recognize and give a favorable or unfavorable rating, as well as the ability to recognize the name of each candidate, stands below 30% for both Lazar and Taylor. In each case, the ID recognition and the ability to give an opinion of the candidates is a little higher than in October. Taylor’s net favorable rating is slightly positive, while Lazar’s is slightly negative. In both cases, though, most voters are unable to give a rating, as shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Favorability of Supreme Court candidates
Among registered voters
| Poll dates | Favorability | ||||
| Name ID | Net favorable | Favorable | Unfavorable | Haven’t heard enough | |
| Lazar | |||||
| 2/11-19/26 | 22 | -4 | 9 | 13 | 77 |
| 10/15-22/25 | 15 | -1 | 7 | 8 | 84 |
| Taylor | |||||
| 2/11-19/26 | 25 | 5 | 15 | 10 | 74 |
| 10/15-22/25 | 16 | -2 | 7 | 9 | 83 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, Wisconsin surveys, latest: Feb. 11-19, 2026 | |||||
| Question: Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of [INSERT NAME] or haven’t you heard enough about them yet?)Note: Name ID is the percentage that have either a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the candidate. Net favorable is the percentage favorable minus the percentage unfavorable. | |||||
In 2025, Schimel, who had served as attorney general, was more familiar to voters with a name ID of 61%, while Crawford’s name ID was 42%. Both had negative net favorability at that point, -3% for Schimel and -4% for Crawford.
As in October, a large majority of voters, 84% in this poll, want judicial candidates to talk about issues so voters know where they stand, while 15% say candidates should avoid giving the appearance of having prejudged cases that may come before them on the court. Here, there is bipartisan agreement, with 83% of Republicans and 88% of Democrats wanting to hear where the candidates stand.
Gubernatorial candidates
Registered voters have generally not heard much about the governor’s election in the second half of the year, with 8% hearing a lot, 58% hearing a little, and 35% hearing nothing at all. In October, 6% had heard a lot and 37% nothing at all.
Most of the gubernatorial candidates are unfamiliar to most voters. Only Mandela Barnes, the former lieutenant governor who was an unsuccessful 2022 U.S. Senate general-election candidate, has a name ID above 50%. Republican candidate U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany is the second best-known of all candidates, with a name ID of 46%. Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, State Rep. Francesca Hong, and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley each have name IDs above 25%, while all other candidates are below 25%.
Among all registered voters, all of the candidates for governor have a negative net favorability rating, as shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Favorability of gubernatorial candidates
Among registered voters
| Candidate | |||||
| Name ID | Net Fav | Favorable | Unfavorable | Haven’t heard enough | |
| Republican Primary | |||||
| Tom Tiffany | 46 | -4 | 21 | 25 | 52 |
| Andy Manske | 13 | -5 | 4 | 9 | 85 |
| Democratic Primary | |||||
| Mandela Barnes | 61 | -7 | 27 | 34 | 38 |
| Sara Rodriguez | 33 | -5 | 14 | 19 | 65 |
| Francesca Hong | 29 | -1 | 14 | 15 | 69 |
| David Crowley | 26 | -2 | 12 | 14 | 72 |
| Kelda Roys | 22 | -2 | 10 | 12 | 77 |
| Missy Hughes | 19 | -5 | 7 | 12 | 80 |
| Joel Brennan | 17 | -5 | 6 | 11 | 82 |
| Brett Hulsey | 16 | -10 | 3 | 13 | 82 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, Wisconsin survey Feb. 11-19, 2026 | |||||
| Question: Here are some people running for governor. Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of [INSERT NAME] or haven’t you heard enough about them yet? | |||||
| Note: Name ID is the percentage that have either a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the candidate. Net favorable is the percentage favorable minus the percentage unfavorable. | |||||
Barnes’ name ID and favorability/unfavorability ratings are lower than at the end of his 2022 race for the U.S. Senate. In late October 2022, his name ID was 84% and his net favorability was -4%.
Tiffany has gained visibility since June 2023 when the Marquette Law School Poll first asked about him. At that point, his name ID was 25%, with a net favorability of -1%.
There are generally small differences in name recognition by party identification, with some exceptions. Tiffany, Barnes, Rodriguez, and Roys are as well known among Democrats as among Republicans, while less familiar to independents. Hong and Crowley are a little better known to Democrats, while Hughes, Brennan, Hulsey, and Manske are better known to Republicans, though differences are often modest.
Net favorability, however, differs substantially by party, with Republicans net favorable to Republican candidates and net negative to Democratic candidates. Likewise, Democrats are net favorable to their party’s candidates, except for Hulsey, and unfavorable to the Republican candidates. Independents are at least slightly net negative to all candidates except Hughes and Brennan. These results are shown in Table 4.
Table 4: Name ID and favorability, by party identification
Among registered voters
| Candidate | ||||||||
| All Name ID | All Net Fav | Reps: Name ID | Inds: Name ID | Dems: Name ID | Reps: Net Fav | Inds: Net Fav | Dems: Net Fav | |
| Republican Primary | ||||||||
| Tom Tiffany | 46 | -4 | 49 | 33 | 48 | 35 | -7 | -46 |
| Andy Manske | 13 | -5 | 16 | 4 | 13 | 2 | -4 | -13 |
| Democratic Primary | ||||||||
| Mandela Barnes | 61 | -7 | 63 | 43 | 64 | -57 | -7 | 46 |
| Sara Rodriguez | 33 | -5 | 36 | 18 | 35 | -34 | -2 | 27 |
| Francesca Hong | 29 | -1 | 29 | 18 | 34 | -25 | -2 | 26 |
| David Crowley | 26 | -2 | 27 | 17 | 30 | -17 | -1 | 14 |
| Kelda Roys | 22 | -2 | 23 | 13 | 23 | -21 | -3 | 17 |
| Missy Hughes | 19 | -5 | 26 | 12 | 15 | -18 | 0 | 7 |
| Joel Brennan | 17 | -5 | 22 | 10 | 13 | -14 | 4 | 3 |
| Brett Hulsey | 16 | -10 | 21 | 9 | 14 | -15 | -5 | -6 |
| Marquette Law School Poll, Wisconsin survey Feb. 11-19, 2026 | ||||||||
| Question: Here are some people running for governor. Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of [I | ||||||||