Scott Walker Isn't Thrilling The Home-State Crowd

He gets a thumbs-up in the GOP primary, but as governor of Wisconsin, meh.
Credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images

Gov. Scott Walker may lead the Republican primary field in his home state of Wisconsin, but local voters are not very enthusiastic about his record as governor, according to a new Marquette Law School Poll.

Twenty-five percent of Republican or leaning-Republican voters in Wisconsin say they want Walker to be the GOP's 2016 presidential nominee. Next on the list are retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, at 13 percent, and business mogul Donald Trump, at 9 percent. Ten percent say they don't know who they want as their party's nominee.

That's nice as far as it goes. But when attention shifts to Walker's efforts as governor, he's not very popular among Wisconsin's voters overall. About 40 percent approve of his record as governor, while 57 percent disapprove.

The voters are similarly split over the direction their state has been going: 46 percent say Wisconsin is headed in the right direction, while 52 percent say that things have gotten off on the wrong track.

On the presidential campaign trail, Walker has touted the benefits of his governorship's economic policies, which include cutting taxes by nearly $2 billion. But voters back home do not express overwhelming optimism about the state's economy.

Wisconsin voters split when asked about the state's budget, which faced a $238 million shortfall earlier this year. About 35 percent say the budget is in better shape than before, while 41 percent say it's in worse shape now.

Almost half of Wisconsin voters think that job creation at home is lagging behind other states, while only about 9 percent think the opposite is true. About a third think job creation is on par with other states.

Walker has faced criticism for lagging job growth and his handling of the budget shortfall. The state ranked 35th in the nation for private-sector job creation during his first term as governor. He also fell short of his 2010 campaign promise to create 250,000 new jobs in Wisconsin.

The poll has one optimistic result for Walker: 60 percent of home-state voters think he is someone "who is able to get things done," a quality that the presidential hopeful has emphasized during his speeches.

"If you want someone who can win and get results and not compromise [on conservative principles], I'm the candidate to send to the White House," Walker said while stumping at the Iowa State Fair on Monday.

The Marquette poll consisted of cell phone and landline interviews with 802 registered Wisconsin voters from Aug. 13 to 16.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated the percentages of survey respondents who felt that Wisconsin was going in the right direction and those who felt that things had gotten off on the wrong track.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot