Empower Wisconsin | March 3,  2022

MADISON — The day after his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden made a photo-op stop in Wisconsin to find he couldn’t escape from his basement-level polling numbers.

The latest Marquette Law School Poll, released right before Biden’s infrastructure speech in Superior, shows the Democrat with an abysmal 43 percent approval rating among Badger State voters —  stuck where he was four months ago. If’s actually better than many polls, all showing Biden deep under water. An ABC News/Washington Post poll earlier this week found 37 percent of Americans approve of Biden’s job performance, with 55 percent disapproving, The same survey shows a majority of Americans don’t believe Biden has the mental sharpness to effectively serve as president.

Biden’s gaffe-filled State of the Union address surely didn’t do much to improve confidence in his mental acuity.

The Marquette Poll also finds a troubling trend line for Gov. Tony Evers.

Just 39 percent of voters say Wisconsin is headed in the right direction, while 53 percent say it is on the wrong track. That’s down from 41 percent in October. That number has plummeted 22 percentage points since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.

“Negative views rose sharply in 2021 and have remained little changed,” the Marquette pollster Charles Franklin said.

Interestingly, Evers’ job approval numbers flipped from his underwater performance in October. The poll shows 50 percent of voters surveyed approve, while 41 percent disapprove. Evers was running at 45 percent approval, and 46 percent disapproval in the October poll. The improving numbers come as Wisconsinites worry about rapidly rising inflation, violent crime, and their employment futures.

The Marquette Poll found 68 percent of respondents are very concerned about inflation, with 28 percent saying they are somewhat concerned. Only 4 percent aren’t worried. Inflation is at a 40-year high, “with no end in sight.”

Evers, Biden and Democratic leadership in congress have promised fighting rising prices will be their top priorities, but economic experts say unprecedented government spending led by liberals and the Biden administration’s disastrous energy policies are key drivers of the high inflation rates.

In the Republican primary for governor, former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch is polling at 30 percent, while businessman and conservative activist Kevin Nicholson has 8 percent support. State. Rep. Tim Ramthun, who recently entered the race, is polling at 5 percent. A majority (54 percent of respondents) are undecided.

In the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, the Marquette Poll shows Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes leading the field with 23 percent support. Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry is supported by 13 percent, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson is polling at 5 percent, and state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski is preferred by 3 percent.

Here’s a clip of the Democratic Party frontrunner, who couldn’t name one policy proposal successfully implemented out of the 55 recommendations put forward by Evers’ Climate Change Task Force. A task force Barnes chaired.

WATCH: Mandela Barnes couldn't name one policy proposal that has been successfully implemented out of the 55 recommendations put forward by Gov. Evers' climate change task force.

He's the chair of the task force. pic.twitter.com/XsMZytsETV

— America Rising (@AmericaRising) March 1, 2022

With the election nine months out, Franklin said the candidates are not well known to many voters.

“Republican and Democratic primary voters are about equally unsure of their primary preferences. In the Republican gubernatorial primary, 54 percent are unsure of their choice, and 48 percent of Democratic voters unsure of their U.S. Senate primary vote,” the pollster said.

Meanwhile, incumbent U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Oshkosh) was viewed favorably by 33 percent of the poll’s respondents and unfavorably by 21 percent. According to the poll, 21 percent of respondents hadn’t heard enough about the senator or don’t know.