Poll: Wis. gov. has slight edge in approval rating

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker
A new poll says slightly more Wisconsin voters approve than disapprove of the job Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, seen here in March 2011, is doing.
AP Photo/Andy Manis

Slightly more Wisconsin voters approve than disapprove of the job Republican Gov. Scott Walker is doing as he prepares for an expected recall election, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Walker also showed a slight lead or a lead when compared to four potential Democratic opponents, according to a Marquette University Law School poll.

It showed 51 percent of 701 registered voters polled approve of Walker's performance while 46 percent disapprove. The poll has a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points. The telephone poll was conducted Jan. 19-22, just days after recall organizers turned in a million signatures to possibly force a recall election against Walker.

The recall effort has been driven by Democrats and other groups angry over Walker's conservative agenda during his first year in office, particularly his successful push for a law that effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers.

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The Government Accountability Board is reviewing recall signatures to determine if enough were gathered to order recall elections for Walker, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and four incumbent GOP senators. A judge on Wednesday granted the board an additional 30 days to complete that process. State law would ordinarily give the board 31 days to verify the signatures' authenticity. The clock began ticking on Jan. 18.

The poll shows the support for Walker is mostly along partisan lines, with 87 percent of Republicans saying they approved the job he was doing and 82 percent of Democrats disapproving. Among independents, Walker has a 54 percent approval rating, compared to 34 percent who disapprove of him.

So far, two Democrats have announced that they will seek the party's nomination to take on Walker. They are former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and state Sen. Tim Cullen of Janesville. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who lost the governor's race to Walker in 2010, and Congressman Dave Obey are also potentials in the race.

According to the poll, Walker would be slightly ahead of Falk, (49 percent to 42 percent), Obey (49 percent to 43 percent) and Barrett (50 percent to 44 percent). But he's leading Cullen 50 percent to 40 percent.

As part of the collective bargaining changes, Walker also forced state workers to pay more for pension and health care benefits, which he has said helped put the state on firmer financial ground. Seventy-four percent of voters polled said they favored requiring state workers to pay more for pension and health benefits, while 22 percent opposed it. The poll did not ask if people favored the existence of unions.

Walker is set to give his state of the state address Wednesday evening.

The poll also asked about a potential general election between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and found that 48 percent backed Obama, compared to Romney's 40 percent. A majority of interviews were done before Saturday's South Carolina primary results showed the win for Romney's Republican rival Newt Gingrich.

Wisconsin's presidential primary is April 3.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)