Schimel slightly ahead of Happ in attorney general race (UPDATE)

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MADISON, Wis. — The last Marquette University Law School poll released just six days before the election shows Republican Brad Schimel slightly ahead of Democrat Susan Happ in the race for Wisconsin attorney general.

The poll released Wednesday shows Schimel with 43 percent support among likely voters compared with 39 percent for Happ. Two weeks ago, Schimel and Happ were tied with 42 percent each.

The poll’s margin of error is 3 percentage points.

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Happ and Schimel are scheduled to meet Wednesday night for their third and final debate before Tuesday’s election.

Happ is the Jefferson County district attorney while Schimel is district attorney in Waukesha County.

The Marquette poll of 1,164 likely voters was taken between Oct. 23 and Sunday. Of the likely voters, 38 percent said the attorney general should appeal when a court strikes down a state law. Forty-six percent said the attorney general should use his or her judgment on whether an appeal would succeed.

Campaigns for both candidates have turned increasingly negative. Schimel has accused Happ of being a liar and asserts she’s soft on crime. Happ has called Schimel a GOP robot who will blindly defend any statute Republican legislators pass regardless of its constitutionality.

Following the poll’s release, Happ’s campaign released a statement that stated, “Brad Schimel and the right-wing’s relentless stream of false attacks and negative ads have failed to give him the advantage that he’ll say anything to get.” It also stated that they knew the race would be close.

Schimel’s campaign did not immediately release a statement regarding the Marquette poll.

Wisconsin Law Journal staff writer Eric Heisig also contributed to this report.