McCallum, a Republican, received the support of 74% of the respondents in a poll of Small Business Times readers, while Democrat Attorney General Jim Doyle received support from 11%, and Libertarian Ed Thompson received 2%.
However, 13% of the respondents said they were uncertain about who will receive their vote in the Nov. 5 election.
The poll, which was conducted by Business Development Directives, an Eagle-based research and business consulting firm, was conducted Oct. 9-15.
The poll sampled the voting preferences of likely voters from a list of 1,000 readers of Small Business Times.
The respondents also were asked which candidate would be the most effective leader in five key goals outlined recently in the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce’s "Blueprint for Economic Prosperity."
McCallum was identified by respondents as the most effective leader among the three candidates in all five of the goals: Education, infrastructure, diversity, taxes and health care.
McCallum fared strongest as a projected leader for building southeastern Wisconsin’s infrastructure, gaining the approval of 82% of the respondents. Infrastructure issues include transportation, energy and communications.
He also received the nod from 77% of the respondents for being the most effective leader for reducing Wisconsin’s tax burden.
Doyle’s best showing came in the goal of improving Wisconsin’s diversity, where 24% of the readers believed he would be the most effective leader.
Small Business Times readers tend to be predominantly white males who are in the top management ranks or the owners or partners of their companies, and they tend to have average annual household incomes of more than $100,000.
Several of the respondents contacted by Small Business Times indicated they were staunch Republicans who planned to vote for the most conservative candidate in races, regardless of whom that candidate is.
"I’m a Republican, and I’m pro-business, and Republicans are pro-business," said Mike Collins, owner of Champion Air Inc., a Cedarburg heating and air conditioning company. "You want as less government as possible."
Collins cited Wisconsin’s tax burden and the rising costs of health care as two critical "roadblocks" for the state’s businesses.
"I will vote for McCallum, and the reason why is he upholds conservative values. I always vote conservative," said Bob Welsh, sales manager for the Western United States at Felins Inc., Milwaukee.
"I will vote for McCallum, and basically, the reason is he says he won’t raise taxes," said Ken Layden, president and owner of AKL Office Products Inc., Brookfield.
Robert Cummisford, president of 3I of Wisconsin Inc., a Brookfield chemical invention company, also intends to vote for McCallum, although he believes Doyle will win the election.
"I think McCallum’s chances are not good. I think McCallum has made some serious missteps since he took over in office, and I think some of those missteps could have been avoided if the Republican Party had a clue about what they are doing.
"I think, overall, his stance on the things that will help business is why I’ll vote for him. I think Doyle contradicts himself. Doyle says he’s going to spend money on programs and he’s not going to raise taxes, and yet he’s going to balance the budget. How is that? It’s not rocket science."
Oct. 25, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
