Obama and Baldwin Gain Support, New Poll Results Say

A new round of results from the Marquette Law School Poll points to shifts in public opinion in Wisconsin in favor of Democratic President Barack Obama and Democratic US Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin.

Obama was up 54% to 40% over Republican challenger Mitt Romney among likely voters interviewed from Aug. 16 to 19, according to the poll. Four weeks earlier, the Law School Poll found Obama up by 3 points over Romney, 49% to 46%.

The Democratic bounce in the Senate race was even larger. Four weeks ago, former Gov. Tommy Thompson, the Republican candidate, led Rep. Tammy Baldwin, the Democratic candidate, 50% to 41%. In the new results, it was Baldwin ahead by 50% to 41%.

Charles Franklin, director of the poll and the Law School’s visiting professor of law and public policy, said, “These are both very large moves in four weeks.” Other polls have also showed significant gains for Obama and Baldwin in Wisconsin in recent days.

Franklin said much of the movement in poll results came from shifts in sentiment among independents. But in a session with Mike Gousha, the Law School’s distinguished fellow in law and public policy, Franklin said that more changes in public opinion are likely before the Nov. 6 election.

For full results of the poll, click here. To view the video of Franklin’s conversation with Gousha, click here.

 

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The Need for Transparency

When there is a culture of secrecy within a closed group, information generated in and by those individuals can be kept within the confines of the group. This behavior may lead to public harm if a closed group keeps secret information that negatively affects other individuals who are not group members. When a public harm is a possibility, the group must install transparency so as to prevent that harm. While complete transparency might be extremely difficult, there does need to be some concession to candor and accountability. Lawyers, like many other professional groups, are commonly thought of as a closed group. We, like those in other groups, must be vigilant to maintain some transparency. In doing so, we protect and uphold the integrity of our profession while preventing harm to our clients and other citizens. This need for transparency is best illustrated through examples.

An undeniably important example is the recent conviction of Jerry Sandusky on 45 of 48 sexual abuse charges.

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Millard Farmer on Capital Punishment

As I stated in a prior post on this Blog, I consider the continued use of capital punishment in the contemporary United States to be not only immoral but also surprising.  Is there something in the country’s history that helps explain why Americans still use capital punishment?

Millard Farmer, the legendary anti-poverty lawyer and opponent of capital punishment, argued that a reaction to the civil rights movement and the power struggle between the federal government and states’ rights are important factors.  When the national government required the southern states to end their discriminatory practices and dismantle their Jim Crow legal systems, according to Farmer, the southern states dug in regarding their right to use capital punishment.

Then, when the Supreme Court’s decision in Gregg v. Georgia (1976) blew away the constitutional clouds floating above capital punishment, the southern states saw it as a huge victory.  At least in this area, the feds had to stop pushing us around!

In the present, of course, the South remains the true home of capital punishment.  The so-called “Death Belt” – Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas – has been responsible for three quarters of all capital punishment in the United States over the past two decades.  If Farmer is right (and he is himself a southerner), this pattern results from both the South’s strong law-and-order attitudes and the region’s belief in states’ rights.

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