Posted on 05/23/2003 1:22:48 PM PDT by JohnnyZ
Democratic U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold may have another tight race for re-election ahead next year, the latest Badger Poll shows.
While Wisconsin residents gave Feingold generally positive performance ratings - on par with the state's senior senator, Herb Kohl - residents aren't as convinced that he should win a third six-year term.
The poll, sponsored by The Capital Times and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, found that 45 percent believe Feingold is doing a good or excellent job. Forty percent rated Feingold's performance as fair or poor.
Those ratings are down slightly from February, when 48 percent gave Feingold the highest marks, but they fall within the poll's margin of error of 4 percentage points.
On the question of whether Feingold should be re-elected - or whether voters prefer an unspecified "someone else" - 41 percent picked Feingold, compared to 34 percent who chose someone else.
Twenty-five percent of those polled said they had no opinion, which could provide an opening for Feingold's eventual Republican opponent, said Badger Poll director G. Donald Ferree Jr.
Feingold is "by no means an underdog, but he has his work cut out for him," Ferree said.
Feingold won one of the state's tightest and nastiest races in recent years when he defeated Republican Mark Neumann in 1998, winning 50.5 percent of the vote to Neumann's 48 percent.
So far, no Republicans have announced plans to challenge Feingold.
Among those considering a bid are state Sen. Bob Welch, R-Redgranite, and former Lt. Gov. Margaret Farrow.
Former Gov. Tommy Thompson, now secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has also been mentioned as a possible Republican Senate candidate, but Thompson has said publicly that he's not interested in the race.
Feingold's fate could hinge in part on the strength of President Bush's support in Wisconsin, Ferree said.
Feingold has opposed the White House on a number of high-profile issues in recent years, including the recent war with Iraq.
He was the only senator to vote against the USA Patriot Act, which the Bush administration sought as part of its anti-terrorism efforts but which Feingold criticized for its impact on civil liberties.
Bush, who lost Wisconsin by about 5,500 votes to Democrat Al Gore in 2000, is expected to campaign heavily in the state next year. He is also expected to throw his weight behind Feingold's Republican opponent.
Bush appears to have strong support in Wisconsin for his own re-election bid. Fifty-three percent said they would like to see Bush get another term, while 42 percent opted for "someone else."
But the traditional Republican gender gap between men and women persists. While 61 percent of men supported Bush's re-election, only 46 percent of women did.
The Republican president still has the strongest job performance ratings of any elected official surveyed by the Badger Poll.
This month's results show 62 percent believe Bush is doing an excellent or good job. But previous Badger Polls have shown a gap between residents' ratings of the president's performance on foreign versus domestic issues.
State Republican Party Chairman Rick Graber said the results confirmed "what Wisconsin Republicans have believed all along. George W. Bush is a very popular and respected President, and consistently strong poll numbers clearly show the citizens of Wisconsin are pleased with the direction he is leading our nation."
The results also show Feingold is vulnerable heading into next year's election, Graber said.
"A two-term incumbent U.S. senator who has a mere 41 percent of his constituents supporting his re-election has good reason to be concerned," Graber said.
The president and both of Wisconsin's senators had considerably higher performance ratings than Congress as a whole.
Thirty-six percent of those polled rated Congress' performance as good or excellent, compared to 60 percent who rated it fair or poor.
Kohl, meanwhile, was rated good or excellent by 45 percent, a figure virtually unchanged from the February Badger Poll.
Feingold's support was strongest among Democrats, 58 percent of whom said he should be re-elected. Forty-three percent of men said he should be re-elected, compared to 40 percent of women.
Yet women were more likely to give Feingold the top ratings. Forty-eight percent rated him as excellent or good, compared to 44 percent of men.
In a written statement, Feingold campaign spokesman Brad Jaffe said, "We are pleased that so many in Wisconsin recognize the good work Senator Feingold is doing."
This article is over in News/Activism too, though abbreviated:
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