Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett had the edge in a potential Democratic primary for governor in a new survey from the liberal firm Public Policy Polling.
The survey included head-to-head match-ups with Kathleen Falk and Dave Obey, finding Barrett led the former Dane County executive among those polled 46 percent to 27 percent and was up on the former longtime U.S. representative 42-30.
In a hypothetical four-way contest with state Sen. Tim Cullen of Janesville included, Barrett was backed by 26 percent of those surveyed, compared to 22 percent for Falk, 21 percent for Obey and 11 percent for Cullen.
“Tom Barrett would be the top choice of Wisconsin Democrats to take on Scott Walker,” PPP president Dean Debnam said in a statement. “If he doesn’t run, they’d prefer David Obey. Kathleen Falk is not at the top of voters’ lists.”
Falk and Cullen have already declared their candidacies, while Barrett is still weighing his options
The poll of 522 likely Dem primary voters was conducted Monday and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. PPP said 30 percent of those who said they were likely to vote in the primary identified themselves as independents, while 11 percent said they were Republicans.
– WisPolitics.com
