Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) has held his seat since 2010, but this year is in for a fight. His proclivity for Russia and his actions surrounding the January 6 failed coup do not help him. Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes (D) is virtually tied and could bring another Democratic seat to the U.S. Senate. A new CNN poll indicated that Johnson was only one point ahead of his opponent. Well within the margin of error.
The poll discovered that Johnson was leading with 50 percent to Barnes’ 49 percent with only two weeks until the midterms. CNN measured likely voters, and a full 94 percent had decided upon their candidate. That meant the race will likely balance on the very narrow slice of independent voters, 6 percent.
Among favorability ratings among those decided voters, Johnson was two points ahead with 46 percent of the voters, only two points ahead of Barnes whose favorability rating was 44 percent.
But when the CNN poll queried all registered voters in Wisconsin, Barnes was ahead. The Lt. Governor had a 4-point lead over the senator and a 2-point favorability rating.
Wisconsin was one of the battleground Senate races people think could go either way, according to the Cook Political Report. Other polls have indicated the same results.
The Democrats’ major Senate super PAC and End Citizens United political action committee paid for an ad featuring retired Police Capt. George Silverwood. The captain said, according to NBC News:
“I’ll never forget Jan. 6th, watching my fellow law enforcement officers defending the Capitol. And then, five officers died. But Ron Johnson is making excuses for rioters who tried to overthrow our government, even calling them ‘peaceful protests.’
Johnson has tried to shift attention away from the January 6 attempted coup, CNN Newt reported:
‘I had no idea when I got a call from the lawyers for the president of the United States to deliver something to the vice president, did I have a staffer who could help out with that – I had no idea what it was. I wasn’t even involved. I had no knowledge of an alternate state of electors.’
Barnes did not let the senator off of the hook:
‘One officer was stabbed with a metal stake. Another crushed between a revolving door. Another hit in the head with a fire extinguisher. Let’s talk about the 140 officers that he left behind because of an insurrection that he supported.’
The CNN Poll interviewed 905 registered Wisconsin voters with 714 of them as likely voters. The poll was held from October 13 through 17, inclusive. The margin of error, however was relatively high at 4.5 percent among those likely voters and 4.2 percent among the entire group. That meant the results could be less reliable than other polls
Christie writes Gloria Christie Reports & Three White Lions Substack newsletters and a Three White Lions podcast available on Apple, Spotify, etc. She is a political journalist for the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery (in progress). Find her here on Facebook. Or at Three White Lions her book on Amazon Kindle Vella and the Gloria Christie Three White Lions podcast on Apple, Spotify, etc.
