Gov. Tony Evers announced July 24 that he will not seek a third term in 2026.

Evers has been the most consistently popular state politician in Wisconsin since his election in 2018. He has maintained an average approval rating above 50%, with disapproval averaging 41%. He is also better known and better liked than most other office holders in the state.

With Evers out of the race all the candidates in both the Democratic and Republican primaries will begin with very low name recognition and will need substantial campaign resources to introduce themselves to voters statewide.

A majority of registered voters in the June 2025 Marquette Law School poll said they would not like Evers to seek a third term, though over 80% of Democrats wanted him to run.

Should Evers run? (June 2025 MULawPoll)

Would you personally like to see Tony Evers seek a third term as governor in 2026?

Poll dates	Yes	No	Don’t know	Refused	n
6/13-19/25	42	55	2	1	873

Evers retains strong support for a third term with Democratic voters, 83% of whom support a third term bid, but 50% of independents oppose a third term as do a very large majority of Republicans.

Party ID	Yes	No	Don’t know	Refused	n
Republican	7	93	0	0	398
Independent	37	50	9	4	106
Democrat	83	15	1	1	363

Evers job approval history

Overall, do you approve or disapprove of the way Tony Evers is handling his job as Governor of Wisconsin?

Poll dates	Net	Approve	Disapprove	Don’t know	Refused	n
1/16-20/19	17	39	22	38	1	800
4/3-7/19	10	47	37	15	0	800
8/25-29/19	20	54	34	10	1	800
10/13-17/19	18	52	34	13	1	799
11/13-17/19	5	47	42	10	1	801
12/3-8/19	12	50	38	11	1	800
1/8-12/20	11	51	40	9	0	800
2/19-23/20	13	51	38	10	1	1000
3/24-29/20	36	65	29	6	1	813
5/3-7/20	26	59	33	7	1	811
6/14-18/20	16	54	38	6	1	805
8/4-9/20	20	57	37	6	0	801
8/30-9/3/20	8	51	43	5	2	802
9/30-10/4/20	10	52	42	5	1	805
10/21-25/20	7	50	43	7	0	806
8/3-8/21	7	50	43	7	0	807
10/26-31/21	-1	45	46	8	1	805
2/22-27/22	9	50	41	8	1	802
4/19-24/22	6	49	43	7	1	805
6/14-20/22	3	48	45	6	1	803
8/10-15/22	2	47	45	8	1	811
9/6-11/22	-3	44	47	8	0	801
10/3-9/22	-2	46	48	5	1	801
10/24-11/1/22	-1	46	47	6	2	802
6/8-13/23	18	57	39	4	0	913
10/26-11/2/23	7	53	46	2	0	908
1/24-31/24	7	51	44	5	0	930
4/3-10/24	8	52	44	3	0	814
6/12-20/24	7	51	44	6	0	871
7/24-8/1/24	7	51	44	5	0	877
8/28-9/5/24	7	51	44	5	0	822
9/18-26/24	2	48	46	5	0	882
10/16-24/24	6	51	45	4	0	834
2/19-26/25	5	49	44	6	0	864
6/13-19/25	2	48	46	5	0	873

Average approval: 50.4% Average disapproval: 41.2%

Number of poll with positive and negative net approval:

Net postive approval: 31 of 35 polls.

Net negative approval: 4 of 35 polls.

Approval by year

Year	Net	Approve	Disapprove	Don’t know	Refused	n
2019	13	48	35	16	1	4800
2020	16	54	38	7	1	7443
2021	2	47	45	7	1	1612
2022	2	47	45	7	1	5625
2023	13	55	42	3	0	1821
2024	7	51	44	5	0	6030
2025	4	49	45	6	0	1737

Evers favorability

[Tony Evers] Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of <> or haven’t you heard enough about them yet?

Poll dates	Net	Favorable	Unfavorable	Not heard+DK	Haven’t heard enough	Don’t know	n
2/25-3/1/18	7	20	13	66	48	18	800
6/13-17/18	5	22	17	61	45	16	800
7/11-15/18	11	25	14	60	46	14	800
8/15-19/18	8	31	23	45	37	9	800
9/12-16/18	9	35	26	39	29	10	800
10/3-7/18	3	38	35	27	22	5	1000
10/24-28/18	0	38	38	24	18	5	1400
1/16-20/19	17	41	24	34	28	6	800
4/3-7/19	13	48	35	17	12	5	800
8/25-29/19	14	49	35	16	11	5	800
10/13-17/19	12	47	35	18	13	5	799
11/13-17/19	2	43	41	15	12	3	801
12/3-8/19	8	45	37	17	12	5	800
1/8-12/20	8	45	37	17	14	3	800
2/19-23/20	3	43	40	16	12	4	1000
3/24-29/20	26	54	28	17	11	6	813
5/3-7/20	14	50	36	13	7	5	811
6/14-18/20	17	54	37	9	7	2	805
8/4-9/20	17	52	35	13	9	4	801
8/30-9/3/20	6	47	41	11	9	2	802
9/30-10/4/20	7	47	40	12	9	3	805
10/21-25/20	4	47	43	10	8	2	806
8/3-8/21	4	46	42	11	8	3	807
10/26-31/21	-3	42	45	12	9	4	805
2/22-27/22	6	47	41	11	7	4	802
4/19-24/22	5	47	42	10	7	3	805
6/14-20/22	2	44	42	14	11	2	803
8/10-15/22	5	46	41	12	6	6	811
9/6-11/22	0	45	45	10	7	3	801
10/3-9/22	-2	44	46	9	6	3	801
10/24-11/1/22	-2	44	46	9	6	3	802
6/8-13/23	13	52	39	9	8	1	913
10/26-11/2/23	8	50	42	8	7	1	908
1/24-31/24	7	52	45	3	3	0	930
4/3-10/24	5	50	45	5	5	0	814
6/12-20/24	8	51	43	6	6	0	871
7/24-8/1/24	9	50	41	9	9	0	877
8/28-9/5/24	6	49	43	8	8	0	822
9/18-26/24	9	51	42	7	6	0	882
10/16-24/24	5	49	44	7	7	0	834
2/19-26/25	0	47	47	7	6	0	864
6/13-19/25	-2	45	47	8	8	0	873

Evers favorability by year

Year	Net	Favorable	Unfavorable	Not heard+DK	Haven’t heard enough	Don’t know	n
2018	6	31	25	43	33	10	6400
2019	12	46	34	20	15	5	4800
2020	11	49	38	13	10	4	7443
2021	0	44	44	12	8	4	1612
2022	3	46	43	11	7	4	5625
2023	10	51	41	8	7	1	1821
2024	7	50	43	6	6	0	6030
2025	-1	46	47	8	7	0	1737

Building name familiarity

Evers is now far better known than any of the potential Democratic or Republican candidates. His absence from the race levels the playing field with all candidates having to take time to build recognition. While candidates may be well known locally in their city or district, creating statewide name recognition requires extensive campaigning.

In February 2018, Evers was unknown to 66% of registered voters (who said they either hadn’t heard enough or didn’t know if they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of him.) Even by July 2018 he was still unfamiliar to 60%. This is typical of non-incumbent candidates who must introduce themselves to voters statewide.

For comparison, in February 2022 Rebecca Kleefisch, after serving 8 years as Lt. Governor, was unfamiliar to 50%. In January 2019, following his election as Attorney General, Josh Kaul was not familiar to 77%. In June 2023, U.S. Representative Tom Tiffany was unfamiliar to 75%.