A new poll released Saturday suggests Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s strong performance in last Wednesday’s debate has provided a boost for him in the Badger State.
According to the latest survey from the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling, President Barack Obama leads Romney by just two percentage points, 49 percent to 47 percent, in Wisconsin. In a PPP poll from two weeks ago, 52 percent of those surveyed said they planned to vote for Obama compared to 45 percent for Romney.
61 percent of the poll’s respondents thought Romney won the first of three presidential debates Wednesday night in Denver while only 25 percent said the president came out on top.
The debate also seemed to improve Romney’s image among the state’s electorate and fire up Republicans about the election. 49 percent of Wisconsin voters now view Romney positively while 48 percent hold negative opinions of the former Massachusetts governor. In the PPP poll from two weeks ago, Romney’s favorability rating stood at 44/51.
Additionally, 72 percent of Republican voters in the state now say they are “very excited” to vote in November compared to 63 percent in the last survey.
There was one silver lining in the poll results for the Democrats, however: Obama still leads among the all-important independent voting bloc by nine percentage points.
The poll was conducted throughout the three days after the debate, October 4-6, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent.
It remains to bee seen if Romney’s post-debate bump will last, but this poll, along with recent visits to the state by Obama and GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan, shows Wisconsin will likely remain a battleground in the final weeks leading up to Election Day.
