Gov. Scott Walker maintains a 7 percent lead over Democratic candidate Mary Burke in the run up to November’s gubernatorial election, according to a poll released Wednesday.
The latest Marquette University Law School poll shows Walker leading Burke 48 to 41 percent, reflecting little change from the previous poll taken in January.
This is the first Marquette poll released since 27,000 pages of emails were made public by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals relating to a criminal investigation of Walker’s former top aide when he served as Milwaukee’s county executive.
Among the voters who have read or heard about the emails, 43 percent say they have a less favorable view of Walker, while 53 percent say the emails have made no difference.
Based on responses from all 801 voters polled, Walker’s approval rating has dropped slightly since January, from 51 to 47 percent. Poll results show Burke is viewed favorably by 19 percent of respondents, with 59 percent saying they do not know enough about her to form an opinion.
Voters expressed mixed views on the direction the state is moving. The poll revealed 54 percent of Wisconsinites say they think it is headed in the right direction, while 42 percent say it is on the wrong track.
When asked how Wisconsin compares to other states in job creation, 45 percent say Wisconsin is lagging behind and 80 percent believe the state will fall short of the 250,000 jobs Walker pledged in his 2010 campaign.
On Tuesday, Burke unveiled her five-point “Invest for Success” jobs plan, which includes investing in industry clusters, strengthening Wisconsin’s workforce and focusing on small business development.
Following the release of the Marquette poll, Burke’s Communications Director Joe Zepecki released a statement emphasizing Burke’s plan as a way to grow Wisconsin’s economy and move the state in a new direction.
“Not only are Walker and his allies' unprecedented amount of early, false, negative attacks on Mary Burke not working, voters know, by an overwhelming margin, that Walker's economic plans aren't working either,” Zepecki said.
The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.5 percent.
