Walker, Baldwin Lead In Latest Marquette Poll

Poll Shows Race For Governor Tightening While US Senate Race Remains Lopsided

(WPR)---The race for governor tightened in the latest poll by Marquette University Law School with Republican Gov. Scott Walker leading Democratic challenger Tony Evers by 1 percentage point.

Meanwhile, the race for U.S. Senate remained more lopsided, with Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin leading Republican state Sen. Leah Vukmir by double digits.

Among likely voters, Walker led Evers 47-46. Another 5 percent supported Libertarian Phil Anderson while just 1 percent said they didn't know who they'd support.

In the U.S. Senate race, Baldwin led Vukmir 53-43 percent, while 3 percent said they didn't know.

The sample for the survey was more Republican than Marquette's last poll in September. Self-identified Republicans outnumbered Democrats by 3 percentage points in October. In September, the survey sample was more Democratic by 1 percent.

Marquette pollster Charles Franklin said that could explain why the race shifted from a five-point Evers lead in September to a one point Walker lead in October. But at the same time, Baldwin's lead changed only slightly, from 11 points in September to 10 points in the most recent poll.

"Party is something, but it's not everything," Franklin said. "It looks like the governor's race moved but the Senate race did not move, and that's despite the change in the sample."

In the race for Wisconsin attorney general, Republican incumbent Brad Schimel led Democratic challenger Josh Kaul by a margin of 47-43 percent. Ten percent said they didn't know who they would vote for. That's tighter than in Marquette's September survey, when Shimel led Kaul 48-41.

Marquette interviewed a total of 1,000 registered voters between Oct. 3-7. That number included 799 likely voters.

The margin of error for questions involving likely voters was plus or minus 3.9 percent. That means Walker's lead was well within the poll's margin of error, but Baldwin's lead was outside of it.

Editor's note: This story will be updated.

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