Marquette's new poll takes a look at both the August Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor and hypothetical general election matchups against Republican incumbent Scott Walker, whom they find leading most of the Democrats by small margins.
In the primary portion of the poll, which featured a sample of 318 voters, Marquette finds state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Evers far ahead of his many rivals with 25 percent of the vote, while everyone else is in single digits. Three candidates take second with 7 percent each: former party chair Matt Flynn, campaign finance reform activist Mike McCabe, and Madison Mayor Paul Soglin. None of the other candidates—six of ‘em, for a grand total of 10—takes more than 5 percent, and a 34 percent plurality of voters are undecided.
One of those bringing up the rear is former state Rep. Kelda Helen Roys, who sits at a mere 2 percent. However, Wednesday also brought her some much better news when EMILY's List endorsed her. Roys is one of two women in the race, but the other, state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, has a wobbly record on reproductive rights.
In the general election, Walker earns anywhere from 44 to 49 percent of the vote, while his Democrat foes take between 36 and 44. Walker edges Evers 48-44 and holds a 48-40 lead over Roys, though his closest matchup comes against McCabe, whom he beats just 44-42. The only other recent general election poll we've seen was a May survey for Evers that gave him a 49-45 lead over the governor, though he did not release results testing Walker against any other Democrats.
However, one thing to note is that Marquette divided up its sample in a somewhat unusual way. They asked all 800 respondents about hypothetical Walker vs. Evers and Walker vs. Roys matchups, but they then split the remaining eight pairings in half, so that each responded was only asked about five total gubernatorial head-to-heads. That makes it somewhat more difficult to compare the results for candidates like McCabe, who weren't presented to the full panel.