Poll Reflects Voter Disgust, But Not Lack Of Confidence In Elections

By Ruth Conniff, Wisconsin Examiner

November 5, 2021

Despite the Republicans’ relentless attacks on the integrity of the 2020 election, the latest Marquette University Law School poll shows little change in public opinion on the issue since August, with confidence in the accuracy of the election at 65 percent — down only slightly from 67 percent in August (less than the poll’s margin of error of 3.9 percentage points).

Still, new investigations and attacks on elections officials, including the recommendation of criminal charges by the Racine County Sheriff against state elections commissioners, could further erode public trust. Half of respondents say they don’t know enough about the Legislative Audit Bureau’s report on the election to form an opinion about what it showed, and two-thirds say they don’t know enough to have an opinion on the partisan investigation led by former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, which is still underway.

The poll also showed that confidence in the election was heavily influenced by party affiliation, with 64 percent of Republicans saying they are not confident in the accuracy of the 2020 election results, while only 1 percent of Democrats lacked confidence in the election.

The poll also asked Wisconsinites about redistricting, as the Republican-led Legislature pushes its new voting maps through after a contentious eight-and-a-half-hour public hearing in which hundreds of citizens came out to testify in opposition to maps that lock in the Republican advantage from the last round of redistricting. Of those polled, 63 percent say redistricting should be conducted by a nonpartisan commission, while only 25 percent would keep the current system, in which the maps are drawn by the Legislature and signed by the governor.

Support for nonpartisan redistricting, unlike confidence in the election, was bipartisan, with 62 percent of Republicans, 63 percent of independents, and 64 percent of Democrats supporting the idea.

Politicians of both parties did poorly in the poll, with voters registering more negative than positive impressions of all the incumbents. Of those polled, 40 percent said they would vote to reelect Gov. Tony Evers, while 53 percent would vote for someone else and 6 percent said they don’t know or declined to say. For U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, 38 percent said they would vote to reelect him, while 52 percent would vote for someone else, and 10 percent said they don’t know or declined to answer. President Joe Biden’s job approval rating was 43 percent, down from 49 percent in August, and Evers’ approval rating was 45 percent, down from 50 percent in August.

On the pandemic, however, 53 percent said they trust Evers as a source of information. Asked the same question about Johnson, who has cast doubt on the efficacy of vaccines and other public health measures and promoted alternative remedies against mainstream medical advice, 39 percent said they trusted the senator.

Pollsters interviewed 805 registered Wisconsin voters by landline or cell phone, Oct. 26-31.

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