The new survey from Public Policy Polling (D) gives Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) a narrow lead over possible opponent Tommy Thompson, a former longtime Wisconsin governor and later Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush.
The numbers, among registered voters: Feingold 47%, Thompson 44%, with a ±3.7% margin of error. Feingold leads the two Republican businessmen already in the race, leading Terrence Wall by 48%-34% and Dave Westlake by 48%-31%. Thompson is not currently in the race, but has been considering it. The TPM Poll Average gives Thompson a narrow lead of 46.9%-44.3%.
Keep in mind that this is a poll of registered voters, not likely voters, so much will depend on the political climate and the different levels of voter motivation in November.
“This clearly would be a competitive race if Tommy Thompson decides to run,” writes PPP president Dean Debnam. “Otherwise Feingold should be safe for reelection.”
PPP also did some negatives-testing — that is, polling on the potential effectiveness of an attack — by asking respondents what they felt about “tax and spend liberals” (the label that Republicans would apply to Feingold) and “Washington lobbyists” (the label that Dems would use against Thompson).
The result was that tax-and-spend liberals had only an 18% favorable rating, to 53% unfavorable. But it was event worse for Washington lobbyists, at 1% favorable and 77% unfavorable.
