A New York Times exit poll suggest that that the general notion of a policy-based recall election was bothering an overwhelming majority of Wisconsin voters.
Exit pollsters asked “Do you think recall elections are appropriate?” To quote the late, great Richard Dawson, “survey SAYS:”
- For any reason: 27%
- Only for official misconduct: 60%
- Never: 10%
In other words, seven-out-of-ten Wisconsin voters thought a recall election over a policy disagreement, such as anti-union legislation, was inappropriate. So many Wisconsinites may have opposed the recall of Scott Walker more because they disliked mid-term recalls based on policy disagreements, rather than because they loved Governor Walker.
This would help explain why exit polls showed that the same voters who gave Walker a 8-point win were also picking The Antiwalker, President Obama, over Walker supporter Mitt Romney by 7 points. Some of those Obama supporters who opposed recalling Walker may just have been uncomfortable with the idea of the concept of this recall.
– Loveland
Note: This post was also featured as part of the “Best of the Blogs” feature in Politics in Minnesota’s Morning Report.
recalls lost, in case your title wasn’t as rhetorical as I suspect it was. Look at how many elections the state has had since 2010. Wisconsin has recall fatigue and Barrett (and the rest of the recall candidates) got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Kind of surprised that exit poll finding isn’t getting more attention.