It’s generally assumed that WI is a leftist state, but Walker was elected three times, and the WI State Senate and Assembly are controlled by Republicans with the Republican margin in the Assembly being the greatest in 50 years.
WI has one Republican US Senator and one Democrat Senator. Their US congressional delegation is five Republicans to three Democrats.
Maybe WI Democrats sleep between presidential elections because at the state level and on the off years between presidential elections, Republicans are more than holding their own in the state.
How does a GOP presidential candidate tap into that latent conservatism?
Presidential elections have much higher turnout. There is a reason why Regan was the last Rep to win WI in 1984. The composition of the legislature is more of a function of the demography of the various districts. No doubt the liberals are concentrated in certain areas--similar to the country as a whole. The big urban areas dominate in statewide elections like Detroit does in MI or Philadelphia and Pittsburgh do in PA.
The country is becoming more liberal as our children go thru the liberal indoctrination centers otherwise known as public education.