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cUdddecdgcdgcdgcdgcdgcdgcdgcdcd c cddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddS c cddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd@ c cddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddHc c cddHwc c c Report c August 1998 Volume 11, Number 6 THE WISCONSIN CITIZEN SURVEY August 1998 A Survey of Wisconsin Public Opinion REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT: WISCONSIN POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC. This Wisconsin Citizen Survey is different from P.O. Box 487 • Thiensville, WI 53092 past studies. It was conducted by the Louis Harris and As- (414) 241-0514 • Fax: (414) 241-0774 sociates, a well known national public opinion firm that E-mail: [email protected] • Internet: www.wpri.org recently merged with the Gordon S. Black Corporation. We’ve been fortunate to have their expertise added to our years of tracking data to produce an in-depth survey of public opinion in Wisconsin. In this survey we measured specific questions THE WISCONSIN about this year’s state elections. Incumbents Governor Tommy Thompson and U. S. Senator Russ Feingold con- tinue to have commanding leads going into the November CITIZEN SURVEY elections. Two Democratic challengers to Governor Thompson, Ed Garvey and Gary George, are not familiar August 1998 to many voters in our state, and it was surprising that even Congressman Mark Neumann has not yet developed the state-wide recognition he will need in order to be competi- A Survey of Wisconsin Public Opinion tive this fall. This survey measured the public’s reaction to GORDON S. BLACK, PH.D. major policy reforms in Wisconsin over the last several Page years. The majority favored educational vouchers and the INTRODUCTION 1 Supreme Court’s decision that it was Constitutional to in- THOMPSON FAVORED FOR RE-ELECTION 3 clude parochial schools in the Milwaukee choice plan. OVER LIKELY OPPONENTS Residents also gave overwhelming approval to our new FEINGOLD ALSO LEADS IN RE-ELECTION BID 4 welfare reform program and the idea of truth-in-sentenc- MOST WISCONSIN RESIDENTS HAVE FAVORABLE 4 ing. VIEWS ABOUT ELECTED OFFICIALS Another topic that remains constant in the study POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE MORE COMMON 4 is the positive mood of Wisconsin residents. Seventy-four IN STATE percent of our respondents thought that Wisconsin was RESIDENTS REMAIN OPTIMISTIC ABOUT 6 moving in the right direction while only 21% thought that DIRECTION OF STATE AND ECONOMY the state was on the wrong track. These are the highest RESIDENTS WILD OVER STOCK MARKET 8 numbers we have seen since we began asking these ques- INVESTMENT IS ASSOCIATED WITH HOUSEHOLD 8 tions five years ago. In addition people continue to be op- INCOME AND RACE timistic about the state’s economic condition and their HIGHER PERCENTAGE