Feingold Leads Johnson By 10 Points In Latest Poll

Analyst Cautions That While Lead Should 'Please' Feingold, It's Still Early On In The Campaign Season

By
Gage Skidmore (CC-BY-SA) / JD Lasica (CC-BY-NC)

The latest Wisconsin Survey shows Democrat Russ Feingold has a 10-point lead over incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johson in this fall’s Senate race.

If the race were held today, 51 percent of respondents say they would vote for Feingold, 41 percent for Johnson.

David Helpap, a University of Wisconsin-Green Bay political scientist, said those numbers should “please” Feingold. However, he cautioned that it’s still early on in the race.

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“This is the poll before the real campaigning begins. You’ve seen a commercial or two that favors Ron Johnson, and I think Russ Feingold just maybe started his. But once you start really getting into the campaign season, you start seeing the campaign materials and the commercials start ramping up, I think that’s when you might start to see, perhaps, some more movement on these numbers.”


Helpap said Johnson’s strategy seems to be to paint Feingold as a Washington insider, even though Johnson himself is the sitting incumbent.

The survey polled more than 616 registered voters in Wisconsin over mobile and landline phones from April 12 to April 15. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percent.

The survey was conducted by Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television and the Strategic Research Institute at St. Norbert College.

Stay tuned to Wisconsin Public Radio and WPR.org for continuing coverage.

Credits: Jennifer Hadley/Wisconsin Public Television (infographic illustrations).