President Barack Obama and U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., appear to have the advantage in their respective races in Wisconsin over their Republican opponents with the election less than a week away, according to a new poll released Wednesday.
According to the latest Marquette University Law School poll, Obama leads former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney 49 percent to 43 percent in the presidential contest in the state while Baldwin holds a four-point edge over former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson, 47 percent to 43 percent, in the U.S. Senate race.
The poll, which was conducted from October 25-28, used a sample of 1,243 likely voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percent.
The results are an improvement for Obama and Baldwin compared to the last Marquette poll from mid-October. In that survey, Obama and Thompson each led Romney and Baldwin by one percentage point respectively.
Around 10 percent of the poll’s respondents said they took advantage of early voting in the state, which began October 22, and already cast their ballots for the November elections. Early voters split 56 percent to 36 percent in Obama’s favor and 52 percent to 36 percent in Baldwin’s favor.
As was the case in previous Marquette polls, the preference of independent voters pointed to which candidates came out on top. Obama holds a five-point advantage over Romney with independents while Baldwin is beating Thompson by six points among swing voters.
More voters still hold negative views of Baldwin and Thompson than positive ones. The poll shows a 38/45 favorability rating for Baldwin while Thompson’s stands at 38/51.
