Alan J. Borsuk – Page 94 – Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog

Walker Leads Barrett by Six Points in New Poll Results

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:May 16, 2012
Post category:Marquette Law School Political Processes & Rhetoric Public

Gov. Scott Walker has opened a lead over Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett of six percentage points among likely voters in the June 5 recall election, according to results of the Marquette Law School Poll released Wednesday. The Republican incumbent was the choice of 50% of those in the poll, while the Democratic challenger was the choice of 44%.

In results released by the Law School two weeks ago, Walker held a one point edge over Barrett. But the new results are within the margin of error for the poll. Professor Charles Franklin, director of the poll, said in releasing the results that the race remains close enough that either candidate could win in the end.

Awareness of the candidates for lieutenant governor, Republican incumbent Rebecca Kleefisch and Democrat Mahlon Mitchell, is much lower than that for Walker and Barrett, but the results at this point are very similar, with Kleefisch ahead by six points. The June 5 ballot includes separate voting for governor and lieutenant governor.

Opinion in the presidential race in Wisconsin also has shifted toward the Republican candidate in recent weeks, the poll found. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama, the Democratic incumbent, were tied at 46% each among likely voters in the new round of the year-long Law School polling project. In results in January through April, Obama led Romney. In addition, results when people were asked if they had favorable or unfavorable opinions of the candidates improved for Romney and declined for Obama between the April round of polling and the new polling, which was conducted last week.

Complete results, including data on every question asked, can be found by clicking here.

Gaddis on Kennan: Insight into a Key Figure of the 20th Century

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:May 10, 2012
Post category:International Law & Diplomacy Marquette Law School Public Speakers at Marquette

The first half of the 20th Century was terrible, including two world wars. The second half was much better. “Who developed the ideas that made the second half of the 20th century better that the first half?” Yale Professor John Lewis Gaddis asked in an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” session at Eckstein Hall on Wednesday.

“I don’t mean to say that George Kennan did all of that,” Gaddis said, answering the question. “But if I were to pick one central idea that was key to making the second half of the 20th century more peaceful than the first half, I think it was the idea of containment, I think it was the idea that you could deal with the Soviet Union without having a new world war with them on the one hand and without appeasing them on the other hand. And that really was George Kennan’s idea. So I would say if we back off and look at big ideas and big consequences, this man is extraordinarily influential.”

Kennan, a Milwaukee native, was the subject of Gaddis’ biography, “George F. Kennan: An American Life,” which was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in April. Gaddis came to Milwaukee at the invitation of the Law School. He spoke with Gousha, the Law School’s distinguished fellow in law and public policy, before an audience of about 200.

Gaddis painted a picture of Kennan as a brilliant, but complex person who had great, almost prophetic insights into global issues, but who was almost never happy with himself or how things were going in the world. He was “one of the greatest American writers of the 20th Century,” Gaddis said (Kennan won two Pulitzer prizes for memoirs he wrote) but “he was one of those people who was incapable of self-congratulation.”

New Law School Poll Results Show Barrett Lead Over Falk Growing

Post author:Alan J. Borsuk
Post published:May 2, 2012
Post category:Marquette Law School Political Processes & Rhetoric Public

With the Democratic primary for governor in its last week, new results for the Marquette Law School Poll, released Wednesday, show Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett opening a larger lead over his main opponent, former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, than was the case in March, before Barrett formally entered the race.

But there are still a lot of undecided likely-voters in the election set for May 8 – about 19% — which needs to be kept in mind, Professor Charles Franklin, director of the poll, said in an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” session at Eckstein Hall.

Head-to-head poll results for a possible final election for governor on June 5 between Barrett and Republican Gov. Scott Walker indicate a race that is effectively a tie at this point. Results for both all registered voters and for those who say they are likely to vote put one percentage point between Barrett and Walker (in one case, with Barrett ahead, in one case with Walker ahead, and, in both cases, with differences that are clearly within the margin of error).

The poll results found Democratic President Barack Obama holding a nine point lead over Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, an increase from the March results. But Franklin said Wisconsin is shaping up as a state that will be in play in the fall presidential campaign.

Full results for the poll, including video of the session at which the results were released and Powerpoint slides of key results, can be found by clicking here.