Poll: Voters agree with Walker on some taxes
Most differ with governor on taxes for schools
MADISON - Gov. Scott Walker’s tax policies could be both an asset and a liability for him in his re-election bid, a new poll suggests.
The Republican governor erased the lead of his Democratic opponent, state schools Superintendent Tony Evers, in a Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday. Walker had 47 percent, Evers had 46 percent and Libertarian Phil Anderson had 5 percent.
The good news for Walker came as he got campaign help Wednesday from Vice President Mike Pence, who held fundraisers for him in Green Bay and Eau Claire.
Walker is an avowed tax cutter and those surveyed shared his views about some taxes, but differed with him on others.
Evers has said he would be willing to raise the gas tax to pay for roads, while Walker has opposed that idea unless other taxes are cut by the same amount or more.
The poll showed Walker has an advantage on that issue — 61 percent said they wanted to keep the gas tax and vehicle fees where they are now, while 32 percent said they were willing to see them increased. (While most opposed raising the gas tax, nearly two-thirds said the roads were in fair or poor condition.)
The picture was much different when it came to other taxes. Of those surveyed, 57 percent said they were willing to pay higher property taxes to pay for schools, while 37 percent preferred to hold down property taxes.
Evers has touted Walker’s past cuts to school funding and called for putting an additional $1.4 billion into schools over two years.
More generally, 51 percent said they were willing to pay higher taxes for more government services, while 42 percent wanted to see lower taxes and fewer services. In 2012, the reverse was true, with 50 percent supporting lower taxes and 41 percent supporting higher taxes.
The poll also found that Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel led Democratic opponent Josh Kaul 47 percent to 43 percent. That’s a tighter race than three weeks ago, when Schimel had a seven-point lead in a Marquette poll.
The makeup of the latest poll’s sample was more Republican than the September poll. That was clear in the race for governor, where Walker erased Evers’ lead, but not the race for attorney general, where Schimel saw his lead shrink.
“Party is something but it’s not everything,” said poll director Charles Franklin.
Many voters still do not know much about the attorney general and his opponent. About a third viewed Schimel favorably and 22 percent viewed him unfavorably, while the remainder didn’t know enough about him to have an opinion. Ten percent viewed Kaul favorably and 8 percent viewed him unfavorably.
Pence visits state
At his stop in Green Bay, Pence said Walker’s response to recent flooding across the state is just one example of why he deserves a third term as governor.
“Wisconsin saw firsthand a few short weeks ago the impact of heavy rain and flooding on families and communities,” Pence said. “Gov. Walker led the state with his usual strength and hands-on leadership through that.”
In the poll, 48 percent viewed Walker favorably and 49 percent unfavorably. Forty-one percent viewed Evers favorably and 38 percent unfavorably.
Nearly two-thirds of voters said they didn’t like Walker’s short-lived run for president, while 26 percent liked it.
Voters were split on Act 10, the law Walker signed in 2011 that all but eliminated collective bargaining for public workers. Evers supports repealing Act 10.
Forty-two percent backed repealing Act 10, while 43 percent said they want to keep it as it is.
Walker last year brokered an incentive package that will cost as much as $4 billion in state and local money to lure Foxconn Technology Group to Mount Pleasant. Of those surveyed, 38 percent believed the deal is worth it and 48 percent said the state won’t get as much value out of the deal as it puts into it.
More than half of voters — 54 percent — said the state is headed in the right direction, while 40 percent said it is on the wrong track. That’s an improvement from September, when 50 percent thought the state was going in the right direction and 47 percent said it was on the wrong track.
The poll was conducted Oct. 3 through Sunday. It included 1,000 registered voters, with 799 of them identified as likely voters. The margin of error for questions regarding likely voters was plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.
Questions on specific issues included half the sample and had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.1 percentage points.