The most recent Marquette Law School poll, released Wednesday, shows U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, pulling ahead of Donald Trump in Wisconsin’s Republican presidential primary race, while the gap between Democratic candidates in the state widened, putting U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, in the lead.
Trump in February led the race with 30 percent support among likely Wisconsin Republican voters. According to the most recent poll, however, Cruz now leads the state on the Republican side with 40 percent support, while Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich have 30 and 21 percent support, respectively.
Since the last Marquette poll in February, several Republican candidates have dropped out of the race. This includes U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, Ben Carson, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Carly Fiorina.
Marquette Law School poll director Charles Franklin said the poll was based on samples of likely voters, and not all are registered voters.
Trump pulls ahead in Wisconsin GOP race according to recent poll
On the Democratic side, Sanders leads the race with 49 percent, compared with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 45 percent support. Support for Sanders rose 5 percent since February, while support for Clinton rose by just 2 percent.
Sanders had far more support than Clinton from voters between the ages of 18 and 29. Twelve percent of voters in this age group support Clinton, while 83 percent favor Sanders. Clinton, however, is more popular among non-white voters than Sanders.
In the Wisconsin Senate race, support for Democratic challenger Russ Feingold slightly fell since February, and currently stands at 47 percent. Support for Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson rose to 42 percent. Franklin said the Senate race is more competitive now than before.
In the Wisconsin Supreme Court elections, Justice Rebecca Bradley currently has 41 percent support, while challenger Appeals Court Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg has 36 percent. Support for Bradley rose by 4 percent since February.
But Franklin said more than a third of likely voters said they did not know enough about Bradley and Kloppenburg to decide who to vote for.
The poll indicated voter presidential party preference and support for Supreme Court candidates are strongly related. Likely Republican primary voters are more likely to support Bradley, while the majority of Democratic primary voters support Kloppenburg.
With the Wisconsin presidential primary coming up on April 5, the poll found 54 percent of likely voters will vote in the Republican primary, while 46 percent will vote in the Democratic.
Despite Cruz’s lead in the poll, 65 percent of likely Republican voters in Wisconsin said Trump would win the Republican nomination. Twenty-three percent said Cruz would win, while only 5 percent said Kasich would. For the Democratic nomination, 77 percent of likely voters said Clinton would win, while 19 percent said Sanders would.
The poll was conducted between March 24 and 28, before Walker endorsed Cruz.
Since February, Walker’s approval rating increased to 43 percent from 39. Among voters who approve of Walker, 45 percent favor Cruz, while 27 and 18 percent favor Trump and Kasich, respectively. Among voters who disapprove of Walker, 44 percent favor Trump, 38 percent prefer Kasich and 16 percent opt for Cruz. Those without college degrees are more likely to vote for Cruz, something Franklin said was “surprising.”
