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Wisconsin: Government and Politics

Political System
Trust In Government
Term Limits
Political Parties
Primary System
Third Parties
Federal Government
Executive-Legislative Relationship
Corruption in Government (Wisconsin)
Corruption in Government (Federal)

Political System

American Political System Broken

Poll	Date	Yes	No	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Rasmussen¹	August 10, 2006	55%	31%	14%	500 LV	± 4.5

1 "Some people say that America's political system is badly broken. Do you agree?"

Trust In Government

Trust the Government to Do What Is Right

Poll	Date	Just about always	Most of the time	Some of the time	Never	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Big 10 Battleground²	September 14-17, 2008	1%	19%	63%	14%	3%	616 RV	± 4.0
Humphrey Institute¹	October 14-19, 2004	6%	41%	49%	2%	3%	623 LV	± 4.0
Humphrey Institute¹	June 21 – July 12, 2004	5%	33%	56%	5%	1%	575 RV	± 4.0

1 "How much of the time do you think you can trust the government to do what's right - just about always, most of the time, only some of the time, or never?"

2 "How much of the time do you think you can trust the federal government in Washington to do what is right – just about always, most of the time, only some of the time, or never?"

Term Limits

Term Limits for Politicians

Poll	Date	Favor	Oppose	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Rasmussen	October 14, 2004	60%	25%	15%	500 LV	± 4.5

Political Parties

Political Party Most Trusted Handling Iraq

Poll	Date	Democrats	Republicans	Both	Neither	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Badger Poll¹	April 15-24, 2008	45%	25%	3%	19%	8%	521	± 4.0
Badger Poll¹	October 18-26, 2006	43%	35%	1%	12%	9%	508	± 4.0
Badger Poll¹	June 23 – July 2, 2006	38%	37%	2%	12%	12%	508	± 4.0

1 "Which political party, the Democrats or the Republicans, do you trust to do a better job handling ... the situation in Iraq?"

Political Party Most Trusted Handling the Economy

Poll	Date	Democrats	Republicans	Both	Neither	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Badger Poll¹	October 18-26, 2006	50%	36%	2%	8%	4%	508	± 4.0
Badger Poll¹	June 23 – July 2, 2006	47%	35%	3%	7%	8%	508	± 4.0

1 "Which political party, the Democrats or the Republicans, do you trust to do a better job handling ... the economy?"

Political Party Most Trusted Handling Immigration

Poll	Date	Democrats	Republicans	Both	Neither	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Badger Poll¹	October 18-26, 2006	45%	32%	2%	11%	10%	508	± 4.0
Badger Poll¹	June 23 – July 2, 2006	37%	34%	3%	11%	14%	508	± 4.0

1 "Which political party, the Democrats or the Republicans, do you trust to do a better job handling ... immigration issues?"

Political Party Most Trusted Handling Terrorism

Poll	Date	Democrats	Republicans	Both	Neither	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Badger Poll¹	October 18-26, 2006	41%	38%	4%	9%	8%	508	± 4.0
Badger Poll¹	June 23 – July 2, 2006	36%	38%	3%	11%	12%	508	± 4.0

1 "Which political party, the Democrats or the Republicans, do you trust to do a better job handling ... the U.S. campaign against terrorism?"

Political Party Most Trusted Handling Corruption in Washington

Poll	Date	Democrats	Republicans	Both	Neither	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Badger Poll¹	October 18-26, 2006	43%	25%	3%	23%	6%	508	± 4.0
Badger Poll¹	June 23 – July 2, 2006	38%	23%	3%	25%	12%	508	± 4.0

1 "Which political party, the Democrats or the Republicans, do you trust to do a better job handling ... corruption in Washington?"

Political Party Most Trusted Running State of Wisconsin

Poll	Date	Democrats	Republicans	Both	Neither	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Badger Poll¹	April 15-24, 2008	44%	34%	2%	13%	7%	521	± 4.0
Badger Poll¹	October 18-26, 2006	52%	34%	2%	6%	6%	508	± 4.0
Badger Poll¹	June 23 – July 2, 2006	44%	33%	4%	8%	11%	508	± 4.0

1 "Which political party, the Democrats or the Republicans, do you trust to do a better job ... running the state of Wisconsin?"

Political Party Do a Better Job Handling Issues

Issue¹	Democrats	Republicans	Both / No difference	Neither (vol.)	No opinion
The situation in Iraq	47%	36%	4%	10%	4%
The war on terrorism overseas not including Iraq	42%	43%	5%	7%	4%
Policies to protect us at home against terrorism	41%	44%	5%	6%	4%
The economy	53%	35%	4%	5%	3%
Health care / prescription drugs	57%	24%	6%	9%	4%
Taxes	49%	35%	5%	7%	4%
Education	55%	30%	7%	5%	4%
Environmental issues	64%	22%	7%	4%	4%
Immigration	42%	36%	7%	9%	7%
Issues important to people like you	52%	34%	5%	6%	3%
Ethical issues of its own members	43%	27%	9%	17%	5%
Poll	WPR / St. Norbert College
Date	October 9-16, 2006
Sample	400 LV
MoE	± 5.0

1 "For the following issues, please tell me which party, Democrats or Republicans, would do a better job handling the issues."

Primary System

Support for Super Delegates System in Democratic Party

Poll	Date	Good	Bad	No opinion	Sample	MoE
SurveyUSA¹	February 15-17, 2008	18%	70%	12%	357 RV	± 4.8

1 "The Democratic Party has delegates and super delegates. Is the idea of having super delegates good or bad?" Asked of registered voters who pay a lot of attention to politics.

Independence of Super Delegate Vote

Poll	Date	Free to vote for either	Bound by some criteria	No opinion	Sample	MoE
SurveyUSA¹	February 15-17, 2008	36%	55%	9%	357 RV	± 5.3

1 "Should super delegates be free to vote for whichever Democrat they wish? Or should super delegates be bound by some criteria when they cast their vote?"

Third Parties

Consider Voting for Independent or Third Party Candidate for President

Poll	Date	Yes	No	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Humphrey Institute¹	June 21 – July 12, 2004	61%	36%	3%	575 RV	± 4.0

1 "Would you consider voting for an independent or third party candidate for president - that is, a candidate who is neither Democratic nor Republican?"

Federal Government

Federal Government Represents the Will of the People

Poll	Date	Yes	No	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Rasmussen¹	June 5, 2008	14%	71%	14%	500 LV	± 4.5

1 "Generally speaking, does the federal government represent the will of the people?"

Federal Government Is Its Own Special Interest Group

Poll	Date	Yes	No	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Rasmussen¹	June 5, 2008	66%	14%	20%	500 LV	± 4.5

1 "Some people believe that the federal government has become a special interest group that looks out primarily for its own interests. What do you think? Has the federal government become a special interest group?"

Executive-Legislative Relationship

Relationship between President Bush and Congressional Democrats

Poll	Date	Better	Worse	As well	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Badger Poll¹	January 5-12, 2005	25%	20%	52%	3%	503	± 4.0

1 "And do you think the President and the Democrats in Congress will work together better than they did (in President Bush's first term), worse than they did, or about as well?"

Legislative Check On Executive Power

Statement¹	October 16-27, 2002
We need Democrats in charge of Congress to act as a check on the president's agenda	44%
We need Republicans in charge to support the president's agenda	39%
Will not make a difference (vol.)	8%
No opinion	9%
Poll	WPR / St. Norbert College
Sample	382 LV
MoE	± 5.0

1 "Which statement do you agree with most? Since the president is a Republican..."

Corruption in Government (Wisconsin)

Corruption in Wisconsin Government Compared to Other States

Poll	Date	Especially Honest	Especially Corrupt	Like others	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Badger Poll¹	June 7-15, 2007	13%	11%	75%	1%	502	± 4.0
Badger Poll¹	October 18-26, 2006	16%	10%	72%	2%	508	± 4.0
Badger Poll¹	June 23 – July 2, 2006	17%	9%	69%	4%	508	± 4.0

1 "Compared to other states, do you think the Wisconsin state government is especially honest, especially corrupt, or more or less like other states?"

Corruption in Wisconsin Government Compared to Other States

Poll	Date	More corrupt	Less corrupt	About the same	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Rasmussen¹	January 23, 2006	13%	28%	50%	8%	500 LV	± 4.5

1 "Generally speaking, is Wisconsin politics more corrupt that most states, less corrupt, or about as corrupt as most states?"

Attention Paid to Wisconsin State Corruption Scandals

Poll	Date	A lot / very closely	Some	Only a little / not very closely	None at all	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Badger Poll²	June 23 – July 2, 2006	16%	41%	23%	19%	0%	508	± 4.0
Rasmussen¹	January 23, 2006	26%	42%	26%	4%	1%	500 LV	± 4.5

1 "How closely have you followed news stories about political corruption in the state of Wisconsin?"

2 "How much attention have you been paying to the recent reports of scandals in Wisconsin, such as state employees campaigning on state time, and the misuse of state resources for personal or political purposes?"

Ethics and Honesty in Federal Government Under Doyle

Poll	Date	Risen	Fallen	Same	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Badger Poll¹	June 23 – July 2, 2006	11%	25%	56%	8%	508	± 4.0

1 "Do you think the overall level of ethics and honesty in the state government has risen, fallen, or stayed the same with Doyle as governor?"

Political Party to Blame for State Government Corruption

Poll	Date	REP	DEM	Equally	Neither	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Badger Poll¹	June 7-15, 2007	15%	7%	64%	12%	1%	502	± 4.0
Badger Poll¹	October 18-26, 2006	11%	13%	54%	19%	3%	508	± 4.0
Badger Poll¹	June 23 – July 2, 2006	9%	8%	59%	19%	5%	508	± 4.0

1 "Which political party, if either, do you think is more to blame for these problems in the state government? The Republicans, the Democrats, both equally, or is neither really to blame?"

Political Party Involved in Political Corruption

Poll	Date	Republicans	Democrats	Both	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Rasmussen¹	January 23, 2006	11%	12%	72%	6%	500 LV	± 4.5

1 "In Wisconsin, does political corruption involve Republicans, Democrats, or members of both political parties?"

Corruption in Government (Federal)

Ethics and Honesty in Federal Government Under Bush

Poll	Date	Risen	Fallen	Same	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Badger Poll¹	June 7-15, 2007	10%	44%	45%	0%	502	± 4.0
Badger Poll¹	June 23 – July 2, 2006	12%	51%	35%	2%	508	± 4.0

1 "Do you think the overall level of ethics and honesty in the federal government has risen, fallen, or stayed the same with Bush as president?"

Amount of Time Congress Spends Investigating Government Ethics Issues

Poll	Date	Too little	Right amount	Too much	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Badger Poll¹	June 7-15, 2007	46%	27%	23%	4%	502	± 4.0

1 "Do you think the U.S. Congress is spending too much, too little, or the right amount of time conducting investigations of possible government wrongdoing and ethical problems in Washington D.C.?"

Scope of Jack Abramoff Corruption Scandal

Poll	Date	Limited to a few	Widespread Corruption	No opinion	Sample	MoE
Badger Poll¹	June 23 – July 2, 2006	39%	50%	11%	508	± 4.0

1 "A prominent lobbyist in Washington named Jack Abramoff has pleaded guilty to corruption charges allegedly involving a U.S. congressman. Do you think this case is limited to a few individuals or do you think it is evidence of widespread corruption?"