Hong, Barnes Lead Democratic Primary for Governor In New Poll

A new poll released Wednesday by Marquette University Law School shows former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes has more name recognition than any other candidate for governor — but he isn’t Democratic voters’ clear first choice.

Marquette surveyed 818 registered Wisconsin voters from Feb. 11-19. It found 58 percent had only heard “a little” about the candidates running for governor, while 35 percent had heard “nothing at all.” Among Democratic primary voters, 65 percent reported they hadn’t made a choice.

But among those who have, results show former Barnes and state Rep. Francesca Hong, D-Madison, are essentially tied when the survey’s margin of error is taken into account.

That’s notable because the Marquette poll found Barnes was the only candidate in the race with name recognition higher than 50 percent, which was well ahead of his Democratic opponents, and even ahead of GOP candidate Tom Tiffany. Barnes’ recognition comes from his previous statewide race for Lt. Gov. in 2018 and his unsuccessful 2022 U.S. Senate race against Republican Sen. Ron Johnson.

Franklin said 11 percent of Democratic primary voters picked Hong and 10 percent picked Barnes. He said the gap between them is “meaningless” given the survey’s 6.3 percent margin of error for the primary voter survey.

“But it does show that that name ID advantage that Barnes enjoys has not translated into any comparable big advantage in the vote choice,” said Franklin.

Among the other candidates, 6 percent of Democratic primary voters picked Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriquez while 3 percent went for Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. Former state Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan and former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Director Missy Hughes each tied with 2 percent followed by state Sen. Kelda Roys of and former state Rep. Brett Hulsey of Madison, who each received 1 percent.

Among Republican primary voters, 63 percent hadn’t decided on a candidate despite Tiffany gaining an endorsement from President Donald Trump. Marquette’s poll found 35 percent of GOP primary voters said they’d pick Tiffany over political newcomer Andy Manske. Franklin said that figure is simply due to most GOP voters not being focused on the race yet.

Supreme Court election is less than 6 weeks away, but most voters still undecided

Wisconsin voters have gotten used to seeing record-breaking spending in high-profile state Supreme Court elections. But this year’s April 7 court election is different, in part, because ideological control of the court’s majority isn’t up for grabs.

The race is between conservative Wisconsin Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar of Waukesha and liberal Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor of Madison, and the campaigns have only recently begun running TV and online advertisements.

The Marquette poll found 66 percent of all registered voters haven’t decided who they’ll vote for. Of those who have, 17 percent said they’d pick Taylor and 12 percent said they’d vote for Lazar.

The data shows more voters felt like they had a clear idea of what Taylor stands for than Lazar. And Taylor was seen more favorably than Lazar, though more than 70 percent said they don’t know enough about either court candidate.

Marquette poll: Hong, Barnes top Democratic primary for governor, but most voters undecided was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.