MU poll: Wis. voters choose Obama

MILWAUKEE - The latest Marquette University Law School poll on Wisconsin politics shows President Obama, and Tommy Thompson leading in their respective races facing voters.

Wisconsin voters are in the midst of a whirlwind of non-stop campaigning from candidates lining up to take on Governor Walker in a recall election, to who will replace Senator Herb Kohl in Washington, to the Badger State's role in selecting President of the United States.

When it comes to President who would Wisconsinites vote for if the election were held today? The answer Barack Obama.

In a match up with Republican Rick Santorum, Obama wins 51 to 40 percent. Against Mitt Romney it's 53 to 38 percent. Against Newt Gingrich it's 56 to 33 percent. And against Ron Paul it's 52 to 36 percent.

Republicans though still need to narrow down the field for the real election and their choice right now in Wisconsin is Rick Santorum with 34 percent...

"And importantly 17 percent say they're undecided in that race and the race is not until April and there could be an enormous amount of change between now and then," said Charles Franklin, Marquette University poll director.

In the U.S. Senate race, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin is the Democrat. For the Republicans Tommy Thompson, Mark Neumann and Jeff Fitzgerald are all officially running.

The poll found Baldwin would win over Neumann or Fitzgerald if the election were held today. But former Governor Thompson has the edge right now over Baldwin 48 to 42 percent.

The added election this year looks to be the recall election of Governor Walker. Potential candidates either running or considering include former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, State Senator Kathleen Vinehout and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

When asked if you approved or disapproved of the way Walker is handling his job as governor, the rating was split at 47 percent each.

Walker's favorability rating scored about the same at 46 percent.

The favorability ratings of his potential opponents did not rate as high. Falk peaked out at 22 percent who view her as favorable, Vinehout is only at 9 percent favorable. And scored well at 30 percent favorable--all the Democrats had more people indicating they haven't heard enough about the candidate.

The Marquette University Law School poll was conducted by phone last weekend. 716 registered Wisconsin voters were questioned. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.