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Wisconsin
Related: About this forumThe Wisconsin Voter-- Polls, trends point to tough re-election fight for Sen. Ron Johnson
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/199775501.htmlWhen Wisconsin voters were polled this month about U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, 30% said they viewed him favorably, 25% unfavorably.
But the biggest group -- 45% -- had no opinion at all.
After more than two years in office, the states senior senator is still apparently something of a question mark to many Wisconsinites.
And those polling numbers are emblematic of some broader uncertainties surrounding Johnsons long-term political future.
Arguably, few Senate Republicans have a tougher seat to hold onto than Johnson does in Wisconsin.
Some reasons why:
Elected in the 2010 mid-terms, Johnson is almost sure to face a less favorable group of voters in 2016, a presidential year. Presidential electorates are bigger and more diverse than off-year electorates, and they have proven less friendly to Wisconsin Republicans. In the past 30 years, the GOP has won two U.S. Senate races in Wisconsin in mid-term elections (1986, 2010) and almost captured a third (1998). But Republicans have lost every presidential-year Senate race in that stretch. Only once since the 1950s has a Wisconsin Republican won a Senate contest in a presidential election year. That was Bob Kasten in the 1980 election that propelled Ronald Reagan to the White House and sent nine Senate Democrats nationally to defeat.
Johnson is a very conservative Republican representing a very competitive swing state. Hes the most conservative Wisconsin senator in many decades, according to one ideological rating system widely used by political scientists. Some senators are politically secure because their parties are dominant in their states, as Republicans are in Wyoming and Democrats are in Rhode Island. Johnson doesnt have that advantage. Of the Senates most conservative members, only Johnson and Republican Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania represent states that have consistently voted Democratic for president over the past quarter-century.
Johnsons polling numbers at this point arent very strong. That could change between now and 2016. And theres not a ton of polling data so far to go on. But the numbers we do have raise questions about his public profile. In the Marquette survey of 1,060 registered voters taken March 11-14, almost half of those surveyed -- 45% -- were either unsure what they thought of Johnson or didnt know enough about him to say. I think thats pretty high for someone who has been in office for two years and has been nationally pretty visible, says political scientist Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll. Compared to the 55% who had a firm opinion of Johnson, 75% had an opinion of newly elected Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, 82% had an opinion of GOP congressman and 2012 vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, and 93% had an opinion of Republican Gov. Scott Walker: ...
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The Wisconsin Voter-- Polls, trends point to tough re-election fight for Sen. Ron Johnson (Original Post)
hue
Mar 2013
OP
hue
(4,949 posts)1. Yet, "But the biggest group (of WI voters)--45%--had no opinion at all." Duuh!
Scuba
(53,475 posts)2. "No opinion" covers your ass regarding St. Ronnie's 11th Commandment.
Few want to say they have a favorable opinion of a man who is dumber than a box of rocks. And RoJo's the dumbest rock in the box.
ewagner
(18,964 posts)3. RoJo is building
an impressive catalogue of sound bites that a good Democrat can use to defeat him...he's far and away too extreme for Wisconsin.
midnight
(26,624 posts)4. K&R... Who could/would challenge him.
a kennedy
(29,673 posts)5. All he has to do is start airing his advertisements in early May and bombard the public like he did
when he defeated Russ during the last go around. Ugh..... it was RoJo 24/7, at least 5 - 1 for him. Terrible, just terrible, and I still can not believe Russ is not the senior Senator from Wisconsin.
undeterred
(34,658 posts)6. 55% said he's a dumbass
Jimbo S
(2,958 posts)7. He's invisible
When was his last public appearance? His last listening session? Swing voters notice these things.
That's how Feingold beat Neuman in '98.