St. Norbert-WPR Survey Indicates Election Will Be Referendum On Walker

Majority Of Burke Supporters Say They'll Vote For Her Because They Don't Like Walker

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Gov. Scott Walker. Photo: Gage Skidmore (CC-BY-NC-SA).

The latest Wisconsin Survey from Wisconsin Public Radio and the St. Norbert Strategic Research Institute suggests that November’s election is very much a referendum on Gov. Scott Walker.

One of the noteworthy characteristics of the St. Norbert poll is that it asks respondents open-ended questions and lets them answer however they want. In this poll, people who backed Walker or Democratic challenger Mary Burke were asked to give the primary reason they supported either candidate.

Among Burke supporters, 61 percent said it was because they didn’t like Walker. St. Norbert College’s Wendy Scattergood said that a variety of responses were given along those lines.

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“The one that’s most prevalent within that whole category was just this sort of ‘I don’t like Walker’ or ‘because she’s not Walker.’ Second to that was actually the Act 10 opposition. People were saying ‘I don’t like what he’s done with unions,’” said Scattergood.

Scattergood said other answers lumped into that category were those indicating an aversion to Walker’s policies and those saying that the state needs a change.

Scattergood said it’s not unusual for an incumbent officeholder to be the central focus of an election.

“What’s unusual is that it’s so big — that there isn’t a whole lot that’s sort of pro-Mary Burke, that a lot of it is sort of this almost visceral reaction against Walker,” said Scattergodd.

Among the governor’s supporters, more than 60 percent said they backed him because they like Walker, his policies, his track record, or more specifically his track record on the budget and taxes. Just 5 percent said they were voting for Walker because they don’t like Burke or don’t like Democrats.