Hong, Barnes Lead Democratic Primary for Governor In New Poll
Marquette poll shows most voters undecided, with Taylor leading Lazar for high court.
Democrats running for Wisconsin governor in 2026 include, clockwise from from top left, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Madison state Rep. Francesca Hong, former Greater Milwaukee Committee President Joel Brennan, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Madison state Sen. Kelda Roys and former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation Secretary Missy Hughes. Angela Major/WPR
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.
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.
Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Hazelhurst, at Gov. Tony Evers’ first State of the State address in Madison, Wisconsin, at the State Capitol building on Jan. 22, 2019. Emily Hamer/Wisconsin Watch
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 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.
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Name ID absolutely misses the main takeaway: that the poll shows preference for candidates w progressive policy stances!
i am sorry to see barnes is so high in ranking. i think crowley is a better choice although i do not know much about hong. need to do some homework.. i am also sorry that we have politicized the state supreme court. and please no tiffany anywhere.
With a margin of error of plus or minus 6 per cent, the whole head to head figures are meaningless. And many of the undecided voters are not going to vote in November. All this poll says is that the governor race is wide open.
Barnes has received money from Soros already lmao. Hong is the one whose platform best represents our needs imo.
My childcare costs for 2 kids cost me the equivalent of 1 Nintendo switch 2 a week, and we have it cheaper than most of our friends. At the very least childcare and healthcare subsidies would go a long way.
Francesca Hong has the progressive policies to make meaningful change in Wisconsin. She is leading the race in actual number of donors.
Please, Dems! Do not choose Crowley or Barnes as your candidate. That is handing the Governor’s mansion to Tiffany.
I and so many other Independents are sick of voting for the lesser of the evils. It’s time you Dems got your act together, and remember that there are voters outside the Madison and Milwaukee areas.
One thing I found interesting about this Marquette poll is something not referenced in this article, i.e., ICE deportation efforts. According to Marquette poll results “83 percent of Republicans believed ICE is mostly deporting immigrants with criminal records, while 89% of Democrats said ICE is mostly deporting immigrants with no criminal records”.
ICE’s own data contradicts the Republican voters perception. “In January, nearly 43% of those detained had no convictions or charges, according to publicly available ICE data…the percentage of those arrested by ICE who have criminal convictions — not merely pending charges — fell from 44.7% in Trump’s first three months to 31.8% in the three months ending in mid-October…According to DHS data, about 29% of those detained by ICE in January had criminal convictions, down from about 54% last February”.
(Another rather sickening aspect of the poll was that 72 % of Republican voters thought the Alex Pretti shooting was justified).
Do Republican voters get this wrong because of ignorance caused by typical corporate media disinformation and lies of omission or do they get it wrong because of some other reason, i.e., race, an affinity towards authoritarianism, general stupidity…?
The folks in central and northern Wisconsin are bombarded with right wing talk shows. Most listeners buy all the hate speech. Critical thinkers are hard to find. These pocketbook voters sing the current regime’s praises. The elected felon-in-chief and his inept staff can do no wrong. A relative told me the protesters deserve to die.
Dems need to realize that not all voters are from Dane County or the Milwaukee area and nominate a candidate that can carry the entire state, not just the previously mentioned areas. Unfortunately that is not a female–there are also a lot of penis voters up there–nor a person of color.
maybe they need to forget what is in their pants and start thinking about what is best for their whole body and it is not trump and his fellow jerks.