The Hill
Poll: Dem opponent leads Scott Walker by 5 points
By Jacqueline Thomsen August 17, 2018
© Greg Nash
Democratic challenger Tony Evers holds a 5-point lead over Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) in the state’s gubernatorial race, according to a new poll.
The survey from the left-leaning firm Public Policy Polling (PPP) found that 49 percent of Wisconsin voters backed Evers, compared to the 44 percent who supported Walker.
The poll was the first to be conducted after the state’s gubernatorial primaries this week, Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) reported Friday.
“I think Scott Walker is in trouble,” Jim Williams, an analyst at the polling firm, told WPR.
“I think we have a nominee (in Tony Evers) who is in strong position, relative to Scott Walker, and is potentially looking to get stronger as his party coalesces behind him.”
Evers, the state Superintendent of Public Instruction, won the Democratic primary for governor on Tuesday while Walker is running for reelection to a third term this year.
WPR reported that respondents in the poll were split in their support in the 2016 presidential election, with 45 percent voting for President Trumpand 45 percent voting for Hillary Clinton.
The outlet noted that the poll was slightly skewed toward Democrats, with 36 percent of respondents aligning themselves with the party compared to the 29 percent who said they were Republicans. Another 35 percent said they were Independent voters.
Maggie Gau, Evers’s campaign manager, told WPR that the results show that Wisconsin is “ready for a change” and that voters “already embrace Tony Evers’ positive agenda to fix our roads, improve our schools, and lower the cost of health care.”
Walker campaign spokesman Brian Reisinger said that the incumbent is “preparing for a tough campaign where he’ll have to earn every vote to withstand a flood of money from big government special interests from Washington.”
The PPP survey of nearly 600 Wisconsin voters was conducted Aug. 15-16 via telephone, according to WPR. The margin of error was 4 percentage points.
Related Update:
Orlando Sentinel
Report: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker used state plane for 869 flights since 2015
Associated Press August 20, 2018
A liberal advocacy group says Republican Gov. Scott Walker used the state airplane to make 869 flights since he dropped out of the presidential race in September 2015, including 11 trips of less than 64 miles.
One Wisconsin Now compiled public records on flight data to release the findings Monday. The flights cost taxpayers about $818,000.
Walker had no immediate comment.
During his first term, Walker and members of his cabinet spent a little more than $250,000 a year to travel on state planes. The past three years the average is about $273,000.
When the issue was raised in 2014, the Walker administration released records from former Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle‘s last two years in office. Those years, 2009 and 2010, he averaged $240,000 a year on state planes.