Most voters still undecided in Supreme Court vote

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With two weeks to go, undecided still leads among candidates for the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, according to the latest Marquette Law School Poll.

The poll found 53% of voters are undecided between Court of Appeals Judges Maria Lazar and Christine Taylor. Among those who have decided, 23% back Taylor and 17% back Lazar.

When the question is asked among likely voters, 46% are undecided, with 30% support Taylor and 22% support Lazar.

“It’s rare to see this much uncertainty with just two weeks to go. There’s obviously room for change,” poll director Charles Franklin said about the April 7 election.

Looking closer at the two candidates, Lazar had a 31% favorability rate while Taylor had a 35% favorability rate. Remaining voters said they did not know enough about either candidate to make an opinion on favorability.

When it comes to what candidates stand for, 25% of voters said they knew what Lazar stood for while 28% knew what Taylor stood for.

Franklin said one thing in Taylor’s favor is that more Democratic voters said they were certain to vote 77% compared to 59% of Republicans. Among independents, 53% said they were certain to vote.

“If more Democrats show up at the polls, that bodes well for Taylor,” he said.

With so many voters seemingly not tuned in to this year’s election, Franklin said the election may likely reach the 61% turnout that last year’s race between Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel. That race attracted national attention and became the most expensive judicial race in Wisconsin history.

While that race would have changed the ideological balance of the state Supreme Court, this year’s race will not since the retiring justice, Rebecca Bradley, is a conservative. The court currently has a 4-3 liberal advantage. However, 75% of poll respondents said they believed the results of the race would change the balance of the court make-up.

Franklin said that number is an indication that voters are not well informed about this year’s election.

When it comes to the Wisconsin Supreme Court as a whole, 46% of voters said they approve of the work it is doing while 37% disapproved. Breaking that number down along party lines, 55% of Republicans said they disapproved of the court’s work while 30% approved while 64% of Democrats approved of the court’s work and 19% disapproved. Among independents, 43% approved and 32% disapproved. The totals do not add up to 100% since some voters said they did not know enough about the court to voice an opinion.

The Marquette Law School Poll also asked voters their opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court. Overall, 37% of Wisconsin registered voters said they approved of the court’s actions while 55% disapproved.

When broken along party lines, 61% of Republicans said they approved of the court and 30% said they disapproved. Among Democrats, 13% approved of the court and 81% said they disapproved. Among independents, 26% approved of the court and 57% disapproved.

The poll was conducted March 11-18 and had a margin of error of +/-4.4%.