New Marquette Poll shows partisan divide persists, with some consensus

A new edition of the Marquette University Law School Poll released on Wednesday paints the picture of a state divided, as the most closely contested state in the 2024 presidential election continues to be especially partisan on their views of issues and of elected officials.

In the poll, conducted June 13 to 19 in a sample of nearly 900 registered voters in Wisconsin, no individual politician or political party registered a net positive favorability rating or a favorability rating over 50%. On issues from the economy or immigration on a national level, or of schools and taxes on the state and local level, this 50-50 state has many issues upon which the electorate is fairly evenly divided. 

Among the top items from the poll was a question on the political future of Gov. Tony Evers, who has not yet announced whether or not he would be running for a third term. The breakdown of where voters stand on the question on if Evers should run again fell largely along partisan lines, but independent voters said the governor should not run again, by a double-digit margin. Overall, 42% of voters say they would like Evers to run for a third term, with 55% opposed to another run. 

“It’s no surprise that it’s a lot of (Republicans) that don’t want (Evers) to run, but the majority of independents say they don’t want him to run, and 83% of Democrats do want him to run,” said Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette University Law School.

“Support within the party is still quite strong. If we look back to (former) governor Walker’s decision for a third term, there it was 61% that didn’t want him to run, and a little bit lower support within the Republican Party at that time. So, Evers looks like he’s in better shape than Walker was in Jan. 2016, but there is some opposition of those 15% among Democrats, and being significantly under water with independents.” 

Evers’ approval rating was down slightly from February’s poll, but has been fairly consistent as a slight net-positive throughout much of his time as governor, and stands at 48% approve to 46% disapprove. 

Another approval rating that remained fairly steady was that of President Donald Trump, at 47% approve to 52% disapprove. In February, he was at 48% approve to 51% disapprove. Trump’s approval ratings now are slightly better than the equivalent time of his first term, where he was at 41% approve to 51% disapprove in June 2017. 

Issues where Trump is at odds with public opinion are on tariffs, where a majority of voters (57%) say imposing tariffs hurts the economy, and on inflation, where 55% of voters say his policies will increase inflation. 

“Despite not much change in approval, people are still very skeptical of tariffs, they think inflation is going to go up, they think the deficit will increase,” said Franklin. “So, there’s still some real policy challenges out there for President Trump.”

Along with views of politicians and national issues, the Marquette poll also shows how Wisconsinites feel about some of the key issues in the state budget.

One question asked: “Wisconsin currently has about a $4 billion budget surplus. How much of that, if any would you like to see given back to the taxpayers through a tax cut?”

Most voters agreed that some of the surplus should be put toward a tax cut, with a range of views on how much and with significant partisan differences.

“Are you more concerned with reducing property taxes, or more concerned with increasing funding for public schools? 57% say they’re more concerned with property taxes, 43% more concerned with funding schools. This has undergone a huge change over time,” Franklin said during a presentation about the new results.

But when the state gives less taxpayer money to schools, districts across the state are proposing referendums just to stay afloat. Wisconsin voters saw a record number of school district referenda, according to an analysis from the Wisconsin Policy Forum. When approved, those asks to residents leave them paying higher taxes anyway.

Meanwhile, a question on funding for universities showed that about half of registered voters say the funding level should be kept the same, with 27% saying it should be increased, and 23% saying it should be reduced. 

Voters were also fairly evenly split on allowing publicly funded vouchers to attend private or religious schools, and on local school funding referendums.

A few issues did find significant majority support among Wisconsin voters. Nearly 70% of voters agreed that marijuana should be legalized, that Medicaid should be extended for new mothers, and more than 70% agreed that there should be “major increases” in state aid for special education for public school students. 

You can find a full breakdown of the results from the latest poll here.

Reporter Savanna Tomei-Olson contributed reporting. This story was edited by News Director Chali Pittman.