The Wisconsin State Capitol and the Forward statue in Madison, Wisconsin. angga / Unsplash
(The Center Square) – Democrat David Crowley leads Republican Tom Tiffany in the first polling on Wisconsin’s governor’s race since the two won primary races on Tuesday.
Crowley led with 48% to Tiffany’s 44%, which falls within the +/- 4.4 percentage points on the poll, conducted by interviewing 500 likely general election voters on Wednesday and Thursday after the primary.
The poll by Platform Communications was from live telephone interviews.
Crowley never led in Democratic polling heading into the primary, a process confused by Crowley dropping out and reentering the race with the endorsement of Gov. Tony Evers while former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez also dropped out of the race late.
State Rep. Francesca Hong led all of the polling heading into the primary, many by a large margin.
The new polling shows that Crowley has a 42% to 30% lead amongst independent voters.
Poll respondents said that 43% viewed Crowley favorably and 26% viewed him unfavorable. Tiffany had 38% view him favorably and 43% unfavorably.
“We see a Wisconsin electorate that is pessimistic about the direction of the state, with a 51% majority saying things are going in the wrong direction,” the poll summary stated. “However, voters are more pessimistic in their view of the direction of the country, with a 61% majority saying the country is on the wrong track. In both cases, independent voters are even more likely to say things are going in the wrong direction than the electorate at-large.”
