Who’s up and who’s going down in latest Marquette poll

Wisconsin’s partisan divide couldn’t be any clearer than in the results of a new poll.

On the one hand, more than 85 percent of Wisconsin Republicans approve of how Donald Trump is conducting his presidency. Just eight percent of Republicans disapprove of the president, according to the latest poll from Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee.

On the other hand, among Democrats, three percent approve of Trump while 95 percent disapprove.

Among independents, Trump’s approval rating is 36 percent and his disapproval rating is 52 percent.

Compared to the school’s poll in March, Trump’s overall approval rating stayed the same — 41 percent — while his disapproval rating rose from 47 to 51 percent.

The president’s support is strongest in the Green Bay media market, according to Marquette, and lowest in the city of Milwaukee, where his disapproval rating is at 80 percent.

More from this section

GOP lawmakers seek sweeping new restrictions on incoming Democratic attorney general

Republicans try to push through last minute bills before end of year

UW-Madison's patent-licensing arm ordered to pay $31.6 million to St. Louis university

Approval-disapproval tied

Asked for their opinion of Gov. Scott Walker, who is expected to run for a third term in 2018, voters were divided — 48 percent approved and 48 percent disapproved of how the Republican is running the state.

Marquette’s analysis said this is the first poll since October 2014 when Walker’s disapproval was not higher than his approval rating.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who is up for re-election in 2018, scored approval and disapproval ratings of 38 percent. About 23 percent of voters lacked an opinion.

Voters also split over how House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Janesville, who also faces re-election in 2018, is handling his job. He’s at 44 percent in approval and disapproval. Last October, before the 2016 election, Ryan was at 45 percent favorable and 38 percent unfavorable.

Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson’s approval is at 39 percent and disapproval is at 32 percent.

On the issues

Marquette also asked voters about high-profile issues and concerns dealing with health care, the environment, Russian interference in the 2016 election, education, economy, infrastructure and trust.

A sampling of the results:

• 49 percent of voters disapprove of Trump’s firing of FBI director James Comey and 53 percent say Trump is trying to interfere in the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
• 54 percent of voters want to keep the Affordable Care Act but improve the legislation. The percentage is unchanged from the March poll.
• 49 percent think the Republican replacement plans will push people off insurance coverage and 47 percent think the GOP plans will increase the cost of health insurance.
• 54 percent disapprove of Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate change agreement.
• Education, health coverage and road construction should be top spending priorities for the state. About 37 percent of voters want increased spending for K-12 education and 61 percent said they would pay higher taxes for their spending priorities.
• Three percent of voters say they trust “the government in Washington to do what is right” just about all the time. About 66 percent trust the federal government some of the time, 19 percent trust the government most of the time and 10 percent never trust the government.
• At the state level, about six percent of voters say they trust the government just about all the time, 41 percent most of the time, 48 percent some of the time and four percent never.
• Trust increases at the local level, where 14 percent trust the government all the time, 50 percent most of the time, 30 percent some of the time and four percent never.

The poll also contained a question about trust in Trump. Asked if “honesty” describes the president, about 59 percent said that’s not a word they’d use.

By the numbers

The latest Marquette University Law School poll was conducted June 22–25 from a random sample of 800 registered voters, who were interviewed by phone — cell or landline. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.