Poll: Economy top issue for Wisconsin voters; Harris leads Trump

Half the voters in Wisconsin say the economy is their top issue, and nearly two-thirds say they are worse-off now than four years ago, but they are not blaming it on Vice President Kamala Harris.

A new poll from the Institute for Reforming Government shows the Harris leads former President Trump among Wisconsin voters.

“[Vice President] Harris and [Sen. Tammy] Baldwin see strong support despite voters’ misgivings about the current state of their finances indicating Democratic candidates are not being held accountable for [President Joe] Biden’s policy failures,’ IRG said with the poll’s release.

Harris leads Trump 48% to 45% in the new poll and has a net-favorability rating that’s 7 points higher.

Forty eight percent of voters have a favorable view of Harris, compared to 51% who see her unfavorably. Trump has a 45% favorability rating and a 55% unfavorable rating.

The poll shows most Wisconsin voters consider the economy the top issue.

“Fifty percent cite the economy as the most important issue, 47% cited the economy in June,” IRG’s poll said. “Only 20% cite abortion as the most important issue, and only 15% of independents cite abortion as the top issue.”

When pollsters also asked independent voters to rank their other top issues, 68% of independents cited inflation increasing costs of things my family needs over 18% picked threats to democracy, and 5% picked border security amongst the list of choices.

“This is our second straight poll that shows how voters in Wisconsin are desperate to see life improve over the next four years and are skeptical that the government is the solution,” IRG President CJ Szafir said.

The poll also shows 64% of voters say their personal finances are getting somewhat or much worse, and 71% said their income has not kept up with inflation this past year.

Szafir said the poll also shows that “voters continue to seek less government and more opportunities to succeed.”

“When asked which is the greater threat to democracy right now, 49% picked bureaucrats that exercise too much control over individuals’ lives, whereas only 23% chose elections that are not fair and secure, 14% chose hostile foreign governments, and 4% chose assassination of our political leaders,” the poll stated. “In June, 62% of voters wanted less regulation if more businesses could be created and 53% (58% of independents) supported eliminating the income tax.”

The survey of 800 Registered Voters was conducted online on July 31-Aug. 5. Field work for the survey was conducted by RMG Research, Inc. Certain quotas were applied, and the sample was lightly weighted by gender, age, and race. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 3.5 percentage points.