Gov. Scott Walker announces he’s suspending his presidential campaign. (Photo: Andrew Beckett)
Governor Scott Walker’s approval rating among voters in the state continues to struggle. According to the latest Marquette University Law School Poll released Wednesday, the Republican governor’s approval rating fell to 37 percent, with 59 percent of voters disapproving of the job he’s doing.
The numbers are down just slightly from an approval rating of 39 percent in a similar poll conducted in August. They do mark a continued decline in Walker’s numbers less than a year in to his second term as governor, after he enjoyed an approval rating of around 50 percent during his first term.
Voters are against Walker seeking another term in office. Poll director Charles Franklin said only 35 percent indicated they would back a third term for the governor, while 62 percent said he should not seek reelection in 2018.
Among Republicans, Walker saw many of his supporters in the GOP presidential primary field move over to frontrunner Donald Trump. Among those still seeking the Republican nomination, Trump had 20 percent support, followed by Dr. Ben Carson at 16 percent, Sen. Marco Rubio at 14 percent, and Carly Fiorina at 11 percent. The surge for Trump comes after he scored just 9 percent in August’s MU poll.
On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continued to lead the presidential field at 42 percent, followed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at 30 percent and Vice President Joe Biden at 17 percent. In a head-to-head contest for president in 2016, Clinton currently leads most of the top end of the GOP field with about 50 percent support.
The poll also shows Democrat Russ Feingold continuing to lead in his bid to reclaim his former seat from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), with Feingold leading 50-36 among likely voters. The race has been marked by a number of shifts though, which Franklin said is likely due to only about 55 percent of voters saying they know enough about the candidates to have an opinion of them.
The poll of 803 registered voters was conduted last Thursday through Monday, just days after Walker abandoned his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. It has a margin of error of +/- 4.1 percentage points.