The new University of Wisconsin Badger Poll of the Wisconsin Senate race, Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold narrowly leads his main Republican opponent, businessman Ron Johnson — with many, many undecideds.
The numbers: Feingold 33%, Johnson 28%, with a whopping 38% undecided. The survey of likely voters has a ±5.7% margin of error. There is no prior Badger Poll for direct comparison. The TPM Poll Average gives Feingold a narrow lead over Johnson of 43.2%-41.4%.
The polling memo here seems to suggest that the high number of undecideds comes from the fact that Johnson is largely unknown at this early juncture, with 80% of likely voters having no opinion of him, compared to a 53%-37% favorable rating for Feingold. In addition, undecided voters were not pushed with a follow-up question to see how they would lean: “As the election draws nearer and more Wisconsinites turn their attention to the election choices, we will include such a follow-up.”
