Marquette Law Poll finds expanded support for Hong in Democratic primary; Barnes sits second and Crowley third

Also:

Hong support is strongest with younger voters and those who describe themselves as very liberal; Barnes and Crowley do better with older and moderate voters
62% say they have heard of Evers’ endorsement of Crowley; 36% say this makes them more likely to support Crowley
Crowley is seen favorably by 22% and unfavorably by 10%, while 67% say they haven’t heard enough about him

MILWAUKEE– A new Marquette Law School Poll survey of Democratic primary voters finds state Rep. Francesca Hong leading with 38%, followed by former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes with 16% and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley at 7%. Former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan is supported by 2%, and State Sen. Kelda Roys is also the choice of 2%. In the previous Marquette Law School Poll survey conducted July 8-16, Hong had 26% and Barnes had 15%. Crowley was not a candidate at the time of the earlier poll, while Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, who subsequently suspended her campaign, had 11%.

In this poll, 34% of primary voters remain undecided, down from 45% in the previous poll. The primary election is on Aug. 11.

Asked for their second choice in the primary, 20% pick Barnes, 13% choose Crowley, 12% prefer Roys, with Hong receiving 8% of second choices and Brennan 7%. The remaining 40% say they haven’t decided on a second choice.

Among those who are initially undecided, 22% say they lean to Hong if they had to choose, with 15% leaning to Barnes, 11% to Crowley, 6% toward Brennan, and 6% to Roys. A considerable 40% of the initially undecided say they don’t know how they lean.

When those who lean to a candidate are combined with first choices, Hong’s support expands to 46%, ahead of Barnes at 21%, Crowley at 11%, Brennan at 4%, and Roys at 4%. Fourteen percent are undecided and not leaning to any candidate.

The poll was conducted July 22-27, 2026, with 407 registered voters who say they will vote in the Democratic primary, including early absentee voters, with a margin of error of +/-6.6 percentage points. The sample includes 254 respondents who were also previously interviewed July 8-16 and 153 new respondents. Interviews were attempted with all Democratic primary respondents from the July 8-16 poll, with a 59% success (reinterview) rate, as well as an additional fresh sample.

Among respondents, Crowley is seen favorably by 22%, unfavorably by 10%, and 67% say they haven’t heard enough to have an opinion. When the question was last asked in March, 16% of Democratic primary voters had a favorable opinion of Crowley, 4% were unfavorable, and 79% hadn’t heard enough.

Crowley’s reentry into the race was accompanied with an endorsement by Gov. Tony Evers. In this poll of Democratic primary voters, 62% say they have heard of the endorsement and 38% have not heard of it.

Among primary voters, 36% say the Evers endorsement makes them more likely to support Crowley, 9% say less likely, and 56% say the endorsement doesn’t make any difference.

Sources of support

As in the previous poll, Hong draws her strongest support from younger voters and from those who describe themselves as very liberal. Her support in each group is stronger in this week’s poll than in the previous one.

Hong wins two-thirds of those 18-29 and just over half of those 30-44, as well as 37% of those 45-59 and 14% of voters 60 or older. By contrast, Barnes’ support rises with age, as does Crowley’s to a lesser extent. These relationships are stronger in the current poll than in the previous one. Candidate support by age is shown for each poll in Table 1. (All results in the tables are stated as percentages.)

Table 1: Democratic primary vote, by age