Marquette Law School May Wisconsin Poll, May 20-21, 2026

(Percentages are rounded to whole numbers for reporting of results. Frequencies have been rounded to whole numbers but percentages are calculated based on non-integer weighted sample sizes.)

Results for survey items among all respondents may be presented here (unless otherwise indicated). Please note that some questions are only asked of particular groups of respondents. In these instances, the row NAs includes the number and percent of total respondents omitted from the question. These omitted cases are ignored when calculating the Valid and Cumulative percent columns.

Support/Oppose bill

On May 11, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and Republican legislative leaders announced an agreement on a bill that would have used $1.8 billion of the projected $2.5 billion state budget surplus to increase funding for special education, reduce school property taxes by about 5%, and send rebate checks of $300 to individuals, $600 to married couples, who paid state income taxes. It would also have eliminated taxes on tips and overtime. Do you think the state legislature (should have passed the bill), or (should it have defeated the bill)?
	Should have passed the bill	Should have defeated the bill	Don't know	n
party ID, leaners as independents
Republican	77	16	8	149
Independent	81	8	11	163
Democrat	82	10	8	142
Ideology
Conservative	78	12	10	181
Moderate	86	10	5	126
Liberal	78	12	10	146
Gender
Male	79	16	5	221
Female	81	7	12	225
Another gender	100	0	0	3
Age
18-29	79	15	5	78
30-44	76	11	13	110
45-59	82	11	7	107
60+	81	10	9	159
Education
Less than HS	87	0	13	7
HS graduate	82	7	10	155
Vocational/tech school/some college/ associates	83	12	5	132
Bachelor's degree	69	20	12	98
Post grad study/professional degree	82	7	11	57
Region
Milwaukee city	88	9	2	42
Rest of Milwaukee media market	77	11	12	139
Madison media market	78	13	8	82
Green Bay/Appleton media market	81	15	4	87
North and west media markets	80	8	12	104
Income
Less than $30k	84	11	6	94
$30k to less than $50k	84	6	10	59
$50k to less than $75k	83	8	9	66
$75k to less than $100k	81	5	14	72
$100k or more	74	17	8	161
Race
White (Non-Hispanic)	80	11	9	368
Black (Non-Hispanic)	81	19	0	19
Hispanic	74	13	12	29
Other (Non-Hispanic)	84	11	5	33
Voter registration
Yes	79	11	9	423
No	83	9	8	31

Delay bill

Some have argued that the bill was fiscally irresponsible for spending a projected surplus now that might lead to a deficit in future budgets. Would it be better to delay providing special education funding, property tax reductions, and rebate checks until next year, or would it be better to provide them now, even if it might affect the budget next year?
	Better to delay special education funding, property tax reductions, and rebate checks until next year	Better to provide special education funding, property tax reductions, and rebate checks now	Don't know	n
party ID, leaners as independents
Republican	24	68	8	149
Independent	22	67	11	163
Democrat	18	74	9	142
Ideology
Conservative	27	63	9	181
Moderate	15	78	8	126
Liberal	19	71	10	146
Gender
Male	22	71	7	221
Female	20	68	11	225
Another gender	0	100	0	3
Age
18-29	19	73	8	78
30-44	21	61	18	110
45-59	22	74	4	107
60+	22	70	8	159
Education
Less than HS	47	53	0	7
HS graduate	18	71	11	155
Vocational/tech school/some college/ associates	15	74	12	132
Bachelor's degree	36	58	6	98
Post grad study/professional degree	18	73	8	57
Region
Milwaukee city	12	78	9	42
Rest of Milwaukee media market	20	69	11	139
Madison media market	27	64	9	82
Green Bay/Appleton media market	21	67	11	87
North and west media markets	21	73	6	104
Income
Less than $30k	17	77	6	94
$30k to less than $50k	21	66	13	59
$50k to less than $75k	16	68	16	66
$75k to less than $100k	23	66	11	72
$100k or more	25	69	6	161
Race
White (Non-Hispanic)	21	69	10	368
Black (Non-Hispanic)	36	54	10	19
Hispanic	19	72	9	29
Other (Non-Hispanic)	18	79	2	33
Voter registration
Yes	22	69	9	423
No	14	76	10	31

Dem Opposition

How do you feel about Democratic candidates for governor opposing the bill?
	That was the right thing for them to do	That was the wrong thing for them to do	Don't know	n
party ID, leaners as independents
Republican	21	59	20	149
Independent	19	52	29	163
Democrat	17	51	32	142
Ideology
Conservative	19	57	24	181
Moderate	19	53	28	126
Liberal	18	52	30	146
Gender
Male	21	57	22	221
Female	18	50	32	225
Another gender	0	100	0	3
Age
18-29	21	46	33	78
30-44	18	47	36	110
45-59	22	59	19	107
60+	16	60	24	159
Education
Less than HS	26	16	58	7
HS graduate	15	49	36	155
Vocational/tech school/some college/ associates	19	60	21	132
Bachelor's degree	26	54	20	98
Post grad study/professional degree	17	59	24	57
Region
Milwaukee city	26	57	16	42
Rest of Milwaukee media market	11	60	29	139
Madison media market	20	52	28	82
Green Bay/Appleton media market	24	49	27	87
North and west media markets	22	50	28	104
Income
Less than $30k	21	52	27	94
$30k to less than $50k	10	48	42	59
$50k to less than $75k	15	52	33	66
$75k to less than $100k	24	50	26	72
$100k or more	21	60	20	161
Race
White (Non-Hispanic)	18	56	26	368
Black (Non-Hispanic)	31	36	33	19
Hispanic	32	46	22	29
Other (Non-Hispanic)	11	62	27	33
Voter registration
Yes	19	52	28	423
No	11	79	10	31

Tiffany Opposition

How do you feel about Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany opposing the bill?
	That was the right thing for him to do	That was the wrong thing for him to do	Don't know	n
party ID, leaners as independents
Republican	28	48	25	149
Independent	15	55	30	163
Democrat	12	57	31	142
Ideology
Conservative	26	48	26	181
Moderate	14	60	26	126
Liberal	12	54	33	146
Gender
Male	19	55	25	221
Female	18	51	32	225
Another gender	0	100	0	3
Age
18-29	13	56	31	78
30-44	16	48	37	110
45-59	22	60	18	107
60+	20	51	29	159
Education
Less than HS	26	16	58	7
HS graduate	18	50	32	155
Vocational/tech school/some college/ associates	17	64	19	132
Bachelor's degree	22	50	28	98
Post grad study/professional degree	17	48	35	57
Region
Milwaukee city	14	70	16	42
Rest of Milwaukee media market	13	53	34	139
Madison media market	14	51	35	82
Green Bay/Appleton media market	23	57	20	87
North and west media markets	26	46	29	104
Income
Less than $30k	19	58	23	94
$30k to less than $50k	18	49	33	59
$50k to less than $75k	11	57	32	66
$75k to less than $100k	20	44	36	72
$100k or more	20	54	26	161
Race
White (Non-Hispanic)	19	52	29	368
Black (Non-Hispanic)	21	73	6	19
Hispanic	19	59	22	29
Other (Non-Hispanic)	11	62	27	33
Voter registration
Yes	18	52	30	423
No	16	73	11	31

Evers support

How do you feel about Democratic Gov. Tony Evers supporting the bill?
	That was the right thing for him to do	That was the wrong thing for him to do	Don't know	n
party ID, leaners as independents
Republican	59	21	20	149
Independent	60	13	28	163
Democrat	76	11	12	142
Ideology
Conservative	56	20	24	181
Moderate	66	11	23	126
Liberal	74	13	13	146
Gender
Male	62	16	21	221
Female	67	14	19	225
Another gender	100	0	0	3
Age
18-29	68	13	19	78
30-44	62	14	24	110
45-59	65	18	17	107
60+	65	14	21	159
Education
Less than HS	16	0	84	7
HS graduate	62	14	24	155
Vocational/tech school/some college/ associates	74	12	15	132
Bachelor's degree	57	25	18	98
Post grad study/professional degree	65	11	24	57
Region
Milwaukee city	70	11	19	42
Rest of Milwaukee media market	67	14	19	139
Madison media market	61	13	26	82
Green Bay/Appleton media market	68	23	9	87
North and west media markets	60	12	28	104
Income
Less than $30k	64	13	23	94
$30k to less than $50k	62	10	29	59
$50k to less than $75k	64	10	26	66
$75k to less than $100k	63	17	20	72
$100k or more	67	19	13	161
Race
White (Non-Hispanic)	65	16	20	368
Black (Non-Hispanic)	38	17	45	19
Hispanic	67	14	19	29
Other (Non-Hispanic)	76	10	14	33
Voter registration
Yes	63	15	22	423
No	83	12	5	31

Issue importance

How important are the positions taken by candidates on this bill for your vote in November for governor and for state legislature?
	Very important	Somewhat important	Not too important	Not at all important	n
party ID, leaners as independents
Republican	23	50	17	10	149
Independent	27	46	21	6	163
Democrat	25	47	26	2	142
Ideology
Conservative	23	51	19	6	181
Moderate	28	50	14	8	126
Liberal	26	41	31	2	146
Gender
Male	19	51	22	8	221
Female	31	45	21	3	225
Another gender	100	0	0	0	3
Age
18-29	20	41	32	7	78
30-44	24	47	24	6	110
45-59	33	42	20	5	107
60+	24	56	15	5	159
Education
Less than HS	37	29	33	0	7
HS graduate	27	45	21	7	155
Vocational/tech school/some college/ associates	29	57	11	3	132
Bachelor's degree	16	45	31	8	98
Post grad study/professional degree	23	40	33	5	57
Region
Milwaukee city	43	42	15	1	42
Rest of Milwaukee media market	22	50	21	7	139
Madison media market	21	43	33	4	82
Green Bay/Appleton media market	28	47	20	4	87
North and west media markets	24	51	16	9	104
Income
Less than $30k	35	37	19	8	94
$30k to less than $50k	21	53	24	2	59
$50k to less than $75k	19	56	20	5	66
$75k to less than $100k	22	58	16	4	72
$100k or more	25	44	25	6	161
Race
White (Non-Hispanic)	23	50	21	6	368
Black (Non-Hispanic)	30	39	31	0	19
Hispanic	30	37	20	14	29
Other (Non-Hispanic)	46	24	27	4	33
Voter registration
Yes	25	47	22	5	423
No	25	53	12	10	31