Former Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., improved his lead over Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., in the latest Marquette University poll, despite a relentless barrage from national Republicans.
Feingold now enjoys 50 percent support from registered Badger State voters while 37 percent want Johnson, who knocked Feingold off in 2010 in his first-ever race for elective office, to win a second term.
In November, the Marquette poll, which has a 4 percent error margin, had the race at 49 percent to 38 percent in favor of Feingold, who resigned as special envoy to the Great Lakes region of Africa last May to seek a rematch with Johnson.
Republicans and Johnson have attacked Feingold’s national security record for months, seeking to contrast his lone vote against the USA Patriot Act and opposition to other enhanced surveillance measures, with Johnson’s efforts to combat terrorism from his perch as Senate Homeland Security Committee chairman.
More recently, they charged that Feingold was among the lawmakers warned about the over-prescribing of opioids at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center, which the VA’s inspector general linked to the 2014 death of Marine Jason Simcakoski.
A VA union official wrote about the problem in a 2009 memo aimed at a trio of Wisconsin lawmakers, including Feingold. But Feingold denies ever receiving it and the official now says she believes he did not.
That memo is the basis for third-party ads against Feingold as well.
They have also repeatedly criticized him for supporting the deal Iran struck with six world powers and the United Nations to curb its nuclear weapons program.
In addition to the polling boost, Feingold received an endorsement from former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska in the form of a campaign contribution. The former defense secretary gave the Feingold campaign $1,000, his only campaign donation so far.
Wisconsin is one of the Republican-held seats Democrats must flip if they are to regain control of the Senate next year. Most experts rank Johnson as the most or second-most vulnerable incumbent.
