Wisconsin recall slipping away from Democrats

[There Is No Spoon]

Posted by Aaron Blake at 03:14 PM ET, 05/18/2012

Just two and a half weeks remain in the recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ®, and momentum seems to be firmly on the GOP’s side.

All three polls out this week show Walker leading Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) by between 5 percent and 9 percent. Perhaps more illustrative, though, are the candidate’s personal favorability and approval numbers.

Despite all the attempts by Democrats and organized labor to turn him into the bogeyman, Walker’s job approval and favorable rating both remain in positive territory, at right around 50 percent.

Barrett, meanwhile, has no such luxury. The latest Marquette University Law School poll of this race showed his favorable rating at just 37 percent, compared to 45 percent who view him unfavorably.

As of late March, the same pollster showed Barrett, the 2010 Democratic nominee against Walker, was viewed favorably by 34 percent and unfavorably by just 27 percent.

That’s a massive shift, with his unfavorable rating jumping 18 points in just seven weeks. It reflects both the difficult primary that he just emerged from (in which labor backed his opponent) and Republicans’ sustained early effort to define him.

... http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-..._blog.html
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Sick to my stomach thinking how Republicans have been able to pour money at Wisconsin to keep this evil rotten monster in the Governors office.

[janedrake]

This is really weird - Walker's under investigation, many of his former staff have been arrested, he has a terrible job-creation record, he's a demonstrated Koch stooge - I guess money really does talk - vis a vis the hundreds of millions of dollars Rove and Koch have poured into the state. If Walker prevails, what can we think but that Wisconsin is lost to "teh stupid."

[azmouse]

Ed Schultz says he doesn't believe the polls. I hope he knows something we don't.

[There Is No Spoon]

(05-22-2012 10:24 AM)azmouse Wrote:  Ed Schultz says he doesn't believe the polls. I hope he knows something we don't.

Me too.

[Velleity]

There is so much money going into this and Republicans are so corrupt and so full of disinformation that I'm not going to believe any polls. It ain't over 'till it's over.

[sandnsea]

I haven't been paying attention because I just don't like recalls. I'm surprised money was spent in a primary as well. If the Democrats can't come together around one candidate for Governor when they're going for a recall, then it seems to me the problem in Wisconsin is that the Democrats are split and the GOP is taking advantage. Isn't this the state that elected Tommy Thompson and Joe McCarthy? But then also elected Gaylord Nelson and LaFollette? Maybe the problem is that the Democratic Party in Wisconsin tends to run too far left and leaves people with nowhere to go??

[Velleity]

(05-22-2012 12:45 PM)sandnsea Wrote:  I haven't been paying attention because I just don't like recalls. I'm surprised money was spent in a primary as well. If the Democrats can't come together around one candidate for Governor when they're going for a recall, then it seems to me the problem in Wisconsin is that the Democrats are split and the GOP is taking advantage. Isn't this the state that elected Tommy Thompson and Joe McCarthy? But then also elected Gaylord Nelson and LaFollette? Maybe the problem is that the Democratic Party in Wisconsin tends to run too far left and leaves people with nowhere to go??

I have spent a good part of my life in Wisconsin. With the exceptions of Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin is rural and the people tend to be a bit backward IMHO.

[SeattleGirl]

I hope that Ed has John Nichols on soon. John seems to have a pretty good feel for what's going on in Wisconsin.

[KonaKane]

I laugh at what "too far left" means in this nation. It's about dead moderate everywhere else on the planet.

[sandnsea]

(05-22-2012 02:02 PM)KonaKane Wrote:  I laugh at what "too far left" means in this nation. It's about dead moderate everywhere else on the planet.

Doesn't really matter. We live where we live. Besides, when I look at France and nuclear power, and Canada and the tar sands and wiping out their virgin forests, and the oil drilling by Norway... I generally come to the conclusion that our very very far left doesn't look at the whole picture and what is really going on in the world.

Kitzhaber just signed the legislation to create a series of ocean preserves. That happened due to cooperation between a variety of interest groups, including fisherman, that typically doesn't happen when the very very far left just stands on a street corner with a sign or occupies a sea stack. It's probably 1/4 of what environmentalists wanted, but it's HUGE progress. I don't know and don't care what our very very far left is saying about it, I want to be happy about it for a day or two.

[KonaKane]

Yeah, but tell me what you REALLY think.

[DFW]

I saw this, too, and was shaking my head, until I remembered.....Citizens United.

Walker is a darling of the Koch brothers. They have poured who knows HOW much secret dirty money into protecting Walker, and I'm sure it's having an effect. The guy is pure sleaze, so how do you make him palatable? Advertise the hell out of him ,and that is what Wisconsin is being deluged with at the moment. THAT is why WIGOTV and DFA are begging for funds to put as many people on the ground as they can.