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Poll: Strong Majority of WI Voters Confident in Spring Election Accuracy

A Marquette University Law School poll finds that those who expressed the greatest doubt about the accuracy of the November 2020 election are also the most excited to cast a ballot this year.
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A Marquette University Law School poll finds that those who expressed the greatest doubt about the accuracy of the November 2020 election are also the most excited to cast a ballot this year.

The debate over election integrity has been at the center of the battle for the ballot in Wisconsin since 2020. But new polling of Wisconsin voters indicates a strong majority believe the state's elections are accurate.

A Marquette University Law School poll finds more than 60% of voters are at least somewhat confident in results of the 2020 presidential election.

And Director of the Marquette Law School Poll for the Marquette University Law School Charles Franklin - also a professor of law and public policy there - noted about 84% of respondents expressed confidence in the recent spring election.

"And I think that maybe suggests it's not about the elections or the way we're holding them," said Franklin. "It's about the argument about 2020, rather than an underlying doubt about the way elections are conducted in the state."

In both the November 2020 and April 2022 elections, Republican respondents were more likely to express doubts about accuracy. But they were nearly three times more likely to express little to no confidence in the 2020 presidential election compared with this year's spring election.

Republican lawmakers have used unsupported claims of election insecurity as a foundation for the state's partisan election review.

Former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman's probe into the 2020 elections has generated headlines in local and national news outlets - but Franklin said more than half of respondents say they still don't know enough about the probe to have an opinion.

"Republicans, who are by far most concerned about 2020, are the least able to give an opinion about Gableman's investigation," said Franklin. "Nearly two-thirds, 64% of Republicans, say they haven't heard enough about the Gableman investigation to have an opinion."

That news came the day after state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who commissioned the review, again extended Gableman's contract.

In a statement, Vos wrote that Gableman's taxpayer-funded salary would be reduced and, "we are all concerned about the judicious use of taxpayers' dollars."

Support for this reporting was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Jonah Chester is Wisconsin Public Radio's 2022-2023 Mike Simonson Memorial Investigative Reporting Fellow embedded in the Wisconsin Watch newsroom. He most recently worked at Public News Service, a national radio news service, where he covered Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. He previously produced the 6 O'Clock News at WORT 89.9 FM in Madison, where he won numerous awards from the Milwaukee Press Club and Wisconsin Broadcasters Association for his reporting on issues in Dane County and south-central Wisconsin.
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