Posted on 01/13/2016 10:27:16 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and Democratic challenger Russ Feingold agree on very little.
But one thing is likely to be true of both by the time their rematch race reaches its election day finish in November: Neither guy is going to be very popular with voters.
"Historically, rematches between candidates are often pretty negative affairs," said Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette University Law School poll.
The Johnson-Feingold race is shaping up as one of the more important Senate contests in the country and outside groups are already spending millions of dollars on the campaign.
What does that mean? Expect the airwaves to be clogged in the coming months with negative ads designed to define the candidates.
It will be a far cry from the 2010 race.
Back then, Johnson, a political outsider and businessman, beat the three-term incumbent Feingold by 5 percentage points. There was little outside spending. Not a lot of mud-throwing. And Johnson ran the classic outside-the-beltway campaign as support for Democrats plummeted.
The result: Both candidates were viewed favorably by voters, according to tracking polls.
Paul Maslin, a Democratic strategist who did polling for the 2010 Feingold campaign, said "there were still people who liked him (Feingold), they just weren't voting for him."
The new normal for campaigning hit Wisconsin in 2012, with the recall race for governor followed by the U.S. Senate contest between Democrat Tammy Baldwin, then a member of the House, and former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson.
Baldwin beat the once-popular Thompson by nearly 6 points. But a long season of political attack ads left both candidates upside-down in voter approval. Thompson numbers were 37% approval to 51% disapproval, while Baldwin's numbers were 36% approval to 44% disapproval.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
The race between Democrat Russ Feingold, left, and Sen. Ron Johnson is shaping up to be among the closest-watched Senate races nationally. And the images of both candidates are expected to take a hit, particularly with outside groups expected to sling plenty of mud.
Johnson/Feingold rematch shaping up to be nasty.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this wisconsin interest ping list.
Unfortunately, Johnson has been on the wrong side of every vote. This election is Feingold’s. What is wrong with our Wisconsin politicians?
I liked it when car dealer Russ Darrow ran against him as “Thec Right Russ”.
Who cares? Not much difference between the two of them in action.
Johnson has been a big disappointment. Don’t really care how this turns out.
If only they could both lose.
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