Yes, Talk Radio Is Different in Wisconsin

Right Wisconsin ^ | March 28, 2016 | Charlie Sykes

[2ndDivisionVet]

Donald Trump is about to find out that Wisconsin is different. And one of the reasons is conservative talk radio.

In recent years, Wisconsin has repeatedly found itself at the epicenter of political upheavals (Scott Walker, Act 10, recall elections, Paul Ryan). In 2010, no state switched more decisively from blue to red and in this traditionally progressive state the GOP still controls the governorship, both houses of the legislature, a majority of the congressional delegation and (at least for now) a U.S. Senate seat. The heart of the conservative resurgence here is southeastern Wisconsin – which is turning out to be very unfriendly territory for the GOP front-runner.

Last week, we called on Wisconsin’s conservatives to be “a firewall of rationality in the madness that is the current GOP campaign.” Voters here are well positioned to do exactly that. They are savvy, well-informed, and deeply engaged. And they are not buying the vulgar buffoonery that Trump is selling. In the critical WOW counties around Milwaukee – Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington – Trump is viewed positively by just 25% and negatively by 64% of GOP voters.

As The Washington Post’s Dave Weigel noted last week it was not a coincidence that Ted Cruz kicked off his campaign on talk radio in vote-rich Waukesha County:

There’s a reason for that. In a typical day here, in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Republicans can spin their radio dials and have their pick of anti-Donald Trump commentary.

I confess that I am one of them (and have the scars to show for it.) But I am only one of the hosts here who has broken with the national talkers who drank deep from the toxic cup of Trumpism. Wisconsin boasts an unusually robust talk radio infrastructure – one that includes my colleague on WTMJ, Jeff Wagner, WISN’s Mark Belling, Jay Weber, and Dan O’Donnell, as well as Green Bay’s Jerry Bader. There are no Hannity-like Trump fan boys here. Weigel quotes me accurately:

“There’s kind of a fundamental decency about Wisconsinites that you can’t downplay,” Sykes said Tuesday night, poking at a salad at an Ozaukee County supper club. “We’ve never had a huge division between the tea party and the establishment. We’ve got think tanks and radio talk shows that have been through the fire and are really intellectually driven. And you don’t get that elsewhere. I was driving here listening to Sean Hannity, and after 15 seconds, I could feel myself getting dumber.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Reid Epstein also noticed the dynamic here:

For Mr. Trump, Wisconsin’s population distribution poses a particular disadvantage. He is highly unpopular in the Milwaukee area, where local conservative talk-radio hosts have been lamenting his rise for months….

In southeast Wisconsin, the local conservative talk-radio hosts have not followed the lead of the national guys,” said Charlie Sykes, who regularly criticizes Mr. Trump on his morning radio show in Milwaukee and is hosting Mr. Cruz at the Wednesday forum in Waukesha. “Trump has not had the talk-radio air cover here that he’s had elsewhere.

But Trump’s unpopularity here is not simply a result of what we have said about him on the air. There is also a very different political culture here. Dan Balz notes that Wisconsin’s Paul Ryan represents “something far different” than Trumpism, a “politics grounded in ideas and policies and an attitude of goodwill.”

So it’s worth noting that Wisconsin GOP voters are Paul Ryan’s – and Scott Walker’s -- voters. Not Trump’s.

Ryan’s approach reflects the distinctive sort of conservatism that has flourished here: principled, pragmatic, substantive, reformist, but not afraid of taking on tough, controversial issues. While the GOP in Washington D.C. has been frustrated and blocked, the record here in Wisconsin has been dramatically different. Not only do conservative now dominant all three branches of government here – they have used that dominance to enact an impressive array of reforms and initiatives from Act 10, Right to Work, and prevailing wage reform, to tax cuts, tort reform, and the expansion of school choice. (Voters will also remember how Trump lied about the success of the conservative reforms here.)

In other words, conservatives in Wisconsin take ideas seriously, which may explain the relatively wide embrace of #Nevertrump here. All of this helps Cruz in a state that few saw as being particularly hospitable to the Texas senator. Politico’s Katie Glueck wrote:

Cruz’s strongest asset, however, may be the strong “Never Trump” movement that began earlier and more aggressively in Wisconsin than did the national efforts to halt the GOP frontrunner's march to the nomination. It is led by prominent local conservative radio hosts like Charlie Sykes, and also embraced by Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke, both of whom are now backing Cruz.

The battle for Wisconsin’s GOP delegates may be decided in the Green Bay media market, but there’s no question where voters in the southeast are trending.

“The heart of the Republican vote in Wisconsin is in suburban Milwaukee, and that area in particular has been hostile to Trump,” said Mark Graul, a longtime Wisconsin-based GOP strategist unaligned this cycle.

“A leading factor is that conservative media, particularly talk radio, has been very anti-Trump from the start, and that those voices have gone from being anti-Trump to being pro-Cruz, as the election now comes to Wisconsin, that will be very beneficial to Sen. Cruz in areas where probably 40 percent of the Republican vote comes from in two weeks,” a reference to suburban counties around Milwaukee.

If the Trump Train derails, it may start right here.

[GilGil]

So why is Walker polling in the mid 30’s right now?
Because Wisconsin voters are a special kind of stupid.
_________________________________

That is what I am thinking. Wisconsin voters are spoiled brats and ingrates.

[Sun]

I wish the talk show hosts would get Trump to debate Ted Cruz.

Trump is very much afraid to debate Cruz, one on one.

[Sun]

Don’t hate.

[Dr. Sivana]

Then you better look up wisconsins history including Bob lafallotte and all the rest of the elected officials

I am reasonably well versed in Wisconsin's role in socialism, progressivism and the origin of the modern Republican party. You might as well say that Vermont is conservative because they voted against FDR.

[sickoflibs]

RE:”Voters here are well positioned to do exactly that. They are savvy, well-informed, and deeply engaged. And they are not buying the vulgar buffoonery that Trump is selling”

That's stating it mildly. He is alienating a huge number of voters even within the GOP

At some point if Trump won the nomination the posts would/will shift from ‘Trump will win a 50 state landslide with all those crossover voters’ to the desperate ‘WE must all support and vote for Trump to stop Hillary’.

Of course many supporting Trump also say that they may not even vote if Trump doesn't get it, in that case they don't see a Hillary POTUS as a problem.

[dynoman]

I’m not.

[LMAO]

At some point if Trump won the nomination the posts would/will shift from ‘Trump will win a 50 state landslide with all those crossover voters’ to the desperate ‘WE must all support and vote for Trump to stop Hillary’.

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Especially if his poll numbers don’t rise against her’s in the general. If he and she get their party nominations, we’ll go into the general with two candidates already disliked at record levels by the voters. Yeah, I know. “But the rallies!!!” The rallies are not the same as the general election

I remember the Romney wars back in 2012 and they are no where near as heated as they are with the Trump/Cruz battles. And he lost the general election. More bad blood that may never recover from.

[LMAO]

Wisconsin, like Pennsylvania and Michigan has very liberal areas and solid conservative areas.

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Minnesota is the same.

The Iron Range is a strange place. Very conservative people that vote straight Democrat no matter what

[Nifster]

Your point s confused at best

Do you think that Wisconsin is an outlier liberal/socialist paradise or are you claiming it is secretly conservative?

[Dr. Sivana]

Do you think that Wisconsin is an outlier liberal/socialist paradise or are you claiming it is secretly conservative?

No, I am making distinctions. Your question are basically asking, "Did you order the rotten four week old mackerel" or the "Filet Mignon was famous secret seasoning?" There is a LOT of in-between. Paul Ryan is worthless, he is Establishment, He is responsive to the wrong people, but that doesn't provide evidence that he is among the most liberal in the country. The original post stated that Paul Ryan is proof that Wisconsin is one of the most liberal states and always has been.

I will reprise the thread in order:

Niftster: Wisconsin is one of the most liberal states in the union and always has been.

Paul Ryan us current example

Dr. Sivana: You are confusing Establishment and RINO with "most liberal". Yeah, Ryan makes a lousy Speaker of the House, but he is not as liberal as Wisconsin's Sen. Tammy Baldwin. No one would call Ryan the liberal in the room populated with Rosa DeLauro, Barabara Mikulski and Dianne Feinstein. Heck, he's probably more conservative than Texas' former Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson, whose seat Ted Cruz now occupies. Wisconsin, like Pennsylvania and Michigan has very liberal areas and solid conservative areas.

Nifster: Then you better look up wisconsins history including Bob lafallotte and all the rest of the elected officiala

Dr. Sivana: I am reasonably well versed in Wisconsin's role in socialism, progressivism and the origin of the modern Republican party. You might as well say that Vermont is conservative because they voted against FDR.

No hole has been demonstrated in my logic in this excahnge.

I've lived in Connecticut, Illinois, Wisconsin, Virginia and Georgia. Wisconsin is far from the most liberal place to be. Milwaukee is more liberal than most of the state but not noticeably more liberal than almost any northern U.S. city. Madison is extremely liberal, which by itself doesn't make the state as a whole a liberal state. The proximity to Chicago combined with the university in Madison makes for a lot of sparks and a lot of action, but unlike Massachusetts and Connecticut, where there isn't even pushback anymore, the activity means the state is in play, and Walker continues to get things done, and despite the RINOs (who are even in the leadership here in conseravtive Georgia) Walker has been able to get them to vote the right way most of the time (they watered down GAB reform, unfortunately).

Wisconsin is not conservative. I never said it was. It is not, as a state or even in its election of Ryan, one of the most liberal. Tammy Baldwin or Russ Feingold would be examples of arch-liberals in the state's recent past. Scott Walker, Jim Sensenbrenner or the great Senator Joe McCarthy would be real conservatives that were important pols in the state. Lots of moderates too, like Tommy Thompson and (Democrat Budget Hawk) William Proxmire.

Wisconsinites by and large are pragmatic (outside of Madison). Cheese, beer, Packers, hunting is huge there. It is not Massachusetts, Maryland or Vermont. Thankfully, Milwaukee is not as big as Chicago, or it'd be like Illinois.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

These are not pertinent issues for me and for most Trump supporters.

[sickoflibs]

RE:”I remember the Romney wars back in 2012 and they are no where near as heated as they are with the Trump/Cruz battles. And he lost the general election. More bad blood that may never recover from.”

Recall Romney had huge rallies too.

In fact Rush mentioned it before the election with his famous line that “everything but the polls shows Romney will win in a landslide”

maybe he will revive that line this year if Trump gets it.

[Nifster]

Don’t bother....

[Sideshow Bob]

These are not pertinent issues for me and for most Trump supporters.

lol

You were the one who damned Scott Walker and Charlie Sykes as being Establishment for not aggressively addressing those issues.

And if Trump's positions pro-Planned Parenthood, pro- gay marriage and and anti- gun rights are not pertinent issues for you and most Trump supporters, then you and Trump are truly NOT conservatives.

The circular reasoning of Trumpers is just special.

[LMAO]

Recall Romney had huge rallies too.

In fact Rush mentioned it before the election with his famous line that “everything but the polls shows Romney will win in a landslide”

maybe he will revive that line this year if Trump gets it.

---

Yup

In fact it was only yesterday I gave a link to Rush saying that very thing to a poster who told me in a debate over Trump’s dismal polling amongst the electorate that Rush always says to ignore the polls...lol

Oh well, maybe we can find a good candidate everyone can get behind to run against President Clinton in 2020 ;-)