Crowley holds 7-point lead over Tiffany in new Wisconsin gubernatorial poll

Democrat David Crowley has slightly widened his lead over GOP nominee Tom Tiffany in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial contest , according to new polling released Wednesday.

The Marquette University Law School Poll found that Crowley increased his support among likely voters in the state by 2 percentage points from a survey last month to 51 percent in October. The Milwaukee County executive’s 7-point advantage over his GOP opponent fell within the poll’s margin of error.

Forty-four percent of likely voters in this new poll backed the former Republican U.S. House member, after Tiffany received 46 percent support in September. Four percent of voters said they were still undecided in this contest ahead of the midterm election on Tuesday.

Additionally, the Democrat’s favorability among voters rose by six percentage points since last month, while the Republican’s grew by one point.

Both candidates saw their support among independent voters grow in this latest survey. Crowley’s support from this group rose from 44 percent in September to 56 percent in October, while Tiffany’s increased from 18 percent to 26 percent in the same time frame.

Crowley and Tiffany are vying to replace retiring Gov. Tony Evers (D) in the Nov. 3 election. Recent polling has shown the Democrat with a narrow lead in this race.

The Marquette survey also found there was greater excitement among Democratic voters in the state to vote in this election — mirroring a larger enthusiasm gap among Republicans and Democrats playing out nationwide this election cycle.

Eighty-two percent of Democratic voters in this survey said they were either “very” or “somewhat” enthusiastic about casting their ballot in the midterms, compared to 74 percent of Republican voters.

The Marquette poll was conducted between Oct. 14 and 22 among 818 Wisconsin registered voters with a margin of error of approximately 4.3 percentage points. Among the survey’s 668 likely voters, the margin of error was approximately 4.7 percentage points.