Sen. Ron Johnson trails former Sen. Russ Feingold by only 2 points, according to a new poll released Wednesday, as the Wisconsin Republican continues to narrow the former senator’s lead in the race.
According to a new Marquette University poll released Wednesday, Feingold leads Johnson 46 percent to 44 percent. Libertarian Phil Anderson takes 4 percent.
Prior to the new poll and a new Loras University survey showing Johnson leading by 5 points, Feingold had held a lead of at leads 3 points in every poll dating to when polling on the race began.
In Marquette’s previous poll in mid-September, Feingold led by 6 points over the incumbent Republican, who has been considered one of the most vulnerable GOP senators up for re-election this fall.
While Johnson saw his numbers rise, the same cannot be said for Donald Trump. According to Marquette’s poll of the presidential contest in the state, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leads Trump by 7 points, 44-37 percent, and saw her lead expand following the Friday release of a video showing Trump making lewd remarks on a hot microphone in 2005.
Since then, Johnson has continued to support Trump as the party’s nominee although many GOP senators have refused to support him following the video’s release, including New Hampshire’s Kelly Ayotte, Ohio’s Rob Portman and Pennsylvania’s Pat Toomey, who, unlike the other two, never has supported Trump. All three are in tough re-election battles.
Overall, Feingold still leads Johnson by 3.3 points, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average.
The Marquette telephone poll of 1,000 registered voters was conducted Oct. 6-9 and has a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.
