The liberal group We Are Wisconsin has released an internal poll of the state’s recall that shows Republican Gov. Scott Walker ahead by a tighter margin than other polls have shown.
The new poll, conducted by the Democratic-aligned firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, gives Walker 50 percent support, to Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett’s 47 percent. The survey of 472 likely voters was conducted from May 19-21, and has a 4 percent margin of error.
In a memo to reporters, We Are Wisconsin spokesman Kelly Steele argues that the race is much closer than national media has given it credit:
In addition, none of the polls from last week account for:
1) Wall-to-wall statewide coverage of the scandal surrounding Walker’s “Divide & Conquer” remarks—made in private to a billionaire donor. Those stories appeared for days in every print outlet in the state, and garnered 87 Critical Mention hits across every TV market in Wisconsin through last weekend.
2) Ad parity which had never existed until this week. The untold millions spent by Walker and his backers had Democrats being outspent as much as 25-1 – a shocking number, given that Walker fails to break 50 in any poll, and the movement in the raw data is literally unchanged from when they turned on the spigots months ago.3) Barrett and his allies now have extremely hard-hitting ads running statewide at high point levels on issues we know move voters – Walker’s worst-in-the-nation jobs record, the John Doe criminal corruption probe of Scott Walker’s office, and the Walker/GOP “War on Women,” which is as aggressive here in Wisconsin as anywhere in America.
The TPM Poll Average currently shows Walker leading Barrett, 50.8 percent to 45.8 percent:
