State Rep. Francesca Hong expanded her lead over the Dem primary field in a new Marquette Law School Poll that went back into the field after Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez dropped her bid and Milwaukee County Exec David Crowley jumped back into the race.
Thirty-eight percent of Dem primary voters surveyed backed Hong, while 16% supported former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and 7% favored Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. Former DOA Secretary Joel Brennan and state Sen. Kelda Roys were backed by 2% each.
When undecided voters were pushed to pick a candidate, Hong’s support jumped to 46%, while Barnes was at 21%, Crowley 11%, and Brennan and Roys at 4% each.
Marquette released a poll a week ago that still had Rodriguez in the field, but not Crowley. She dropped her bid the day after that survey came out of the field, while Crowley reentered the race two days after interviews wrapped up.
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That poll found 26% supported Hong, followed by 15% for Barnes, 11% for Rodriguez, 2% for Brennan and 1% for Roys.
The poll of 407 Dem primary voters was conducted July 22-27 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 6.6 percentage points.
Marquette sought to reinterview the Dem primary voters it surveyed for the prior survey that included Rodriguez, but not Crowley. It was able to reach 254 of those respondents and included 153 new Dem voters.
Fifty-nine percent of those surveyed identified themselves as Dems, 36% were independents and 4% were Republicans. Franklin noted Wisconsin has an open primary system.
Nate Silver rates Marquette as the nation’s second best pollster.