Tweet
Republican Gov. Scott Walker has been steadily making himself less popular in Wisconsin, so much so that he is now potentially vulnerable to a recall campaign, which could theoretically be launched six months from now. From PPP polling:
43% of voters now approve of the job [Scott] Walker is doing to 54% who disapprove. When PPP polled the state in late February it was 46% of voters approving to 52% disapproval. Walker’s numbers now are virtually identical to where they were before with Democrats and Republicans but with independents he’s seen his popularity continue to decline from a 45/53 approval spread to a 40/56 one.
Voters split evenly in February at 48% on the question of recalling Walker but now the needle has moved towards bare majority support for removing him early from office. 50% say they would support a recall to 47% who are opposed. That Walker’s disapproval is 54% but the support for recall is only 50% shows there are still some voters who dislike him but wouldn’t go so far as to support removing him from office, but there aren’t many.
Although voters are pretty evenly divided on whether they would support a recall there’s less doubt about who they would vote for if there actually was a recall election. They say they would pick [ Russ] Feingold over Walker by a 52-42 margin and [Tom] Barrett over him by a 50-43 spread.
The important numbers from the poll are that, if the recall actually happened, a Democrat would stand a really good chance of winning the election. There is no point in and little energy for launching a major recall effort unless there is a very good chance the incumbent will be replaced.
While it is helpful to any potential recall campaign that a majority would support the effort, majority support isn’t strictly necessary. All that is really needed is a sufficiently large pool of voters that would support a recall so the campaign would have a reasonable chance contacting enough supporters to get the required number of signatures, which is 25 percent of the total vote in the last election.
7 Comments
Walker the Planker, Scotter.
This is the stuff that dreams are made of.
Wanker also passed a law allowing him to veto all administrative laws. The centralization of power in the Governor’s office is the anti-thesis of conservatism. A lot of conservatives in Wisconsin also care about the environment.
Even if you ignore all the judges he can appoint, it’s worth it to Wisconsin to get rid of him.
He’s widely perceived by both parties to be weak. Effective control of WIGOP appears now to be with state Sen. Scott Fitzgerald.
If the good people of Wisconsin have the gumption to recall Wanker then more power to them. The netroots and the unions should help as much as possible. There will be nothing from the national party. A successful recall would significantly improve the present and future prospects for the people of the state and would inspire people of good will all over the country.
Couldn’t happen to a more *deserving* politician… at least in WI. Hope the good citizens of WI carry through with this recall to its final conclusion of turfing out Walker, enemy of the people (aka small people) and poodle for the super wealthy, esp the Koch brothers.
After what happened in the Supreme Court election, I don’t think anything will/can come of these recalls. If they can getaway with fixing one election, they will do them all.
Do you think Scott Walker would spend all this time and effort building up the centralized power of the Governor’s office, and then leave open the tiniest bit of chance or possibility that he might lose it all to someone else, let alone of the opposite party?
No, the open ballot-bags and other irregularities in Waukesha County are just a mild taste of what that recall election would look like… assuming the petitions stood a snowflake’s chance in Hell of surviving collection, submission, and review.