Poll: Momentum With GOP's Michels In Wis. Gubernatorial Race
Tim Michels
By John Gizzi | Saturday, 05 November 2022 12:06 PM EDT
Four years ago, Wisconsin's Republican Gov. Scott Walker was narrowly unseated in large part because of lingering fury from unions over his reforms requiring participation of public sector employees in their retirement and health care plans. Walker's brief and disastrous bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2015 was also a factor in his defeat at the hands of liberal Democrat Tony Evers in 2020.
Now, with just days to go before Wisconsin votes, the much-respected Marquette University Law School poll shows among voters statewide, Evers and GOP businessman Tim Michels are deadlocked with 48% each.
The X-factor in the race is independent candidate Joan Ellis Beglinger, who suddenly withdrew from the race in September to endorse Michels. But state election law requires her name to remain on the ballot, and Marquette's latest findings have the retired nurse and health care company executive at 2%.
The Marquette poll clearly shows movement in the direction of Trumpster Michaels since a month ago, when it showed Evers at 47%, Michels 46% and Beglinger 4%.
Van Mobley, president of the Board of Trustees of Thiensville, Wisconsin, and one of Donald Trump's earliest backers in the Badger State, told us that inflation was a key issue driving support for Michels.
"'Inflation' is, of course, a code word for 'the economy,'" said Mobley. "Voters here think the Biden administration is a shoddy bunch of wretches ruining us while telling us everything will be better when they are completely ruining us."
He added that rising crime and the quality of education were hurting Evers and the Democratic Party.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.