Ron Johnson Is Unpopular in Wisconsin. Can He Win Anyway?
Lol. Golly, who knows? The election isn’t for 10 more months. Is that really the point?
Anyway, here’s the story:
36% of Wisconsin voters approved of Johnson’s job performance and 51% disapproved in the fourth quarter of 2021.
56% of independent voters in Wisconsin disapproved of Johnson’s job performance — up 14 percentage points since late 2020.
Johnson is widely considered the most vulnerable Republican senator up for re-election this year, but some see a path to victory built on Biden’s own unpopularity and traditional midterm dynamics that favor the party outside the White House.
I’m sure “some see” a path. It’s their job and their hope since he’s the incumbent and they don’t have much choice in the matter. But seriously, that is just a very lame way to frame these findings:
Republican Sen. Ron Johnson emerged from Donald Trump’s presidency with his approval ratings in Wisconsin underwater — and it’s only gotten worse under Joe Biden, even as voters there have soured on the Democratic president.
But while Johnson is unpopular, few are ready to declare his chances dead on arrival as he revs up his third Senate campaign in a state Trump lost by just a sliver in 2020.
Of course they aren’t ready to declare him dead on arrival. The state is one of the most polarized in the nation and elections are almost always super close. He could pull it out. In fact, any Republican could pull it out under all the new rules, restrictions and partisan officials with which they are stacking the election offices. And 10 months is a long time.
But there is nothing in those numbers right now that suggests it will be close. So headlining this as if Johnson has some magic powers is a bit much.
Here’s hoping the Democrats nominate someone strong for this race. It’s a good possibility for a pick-up, and it doesn’t have to be a Joe Manchin clone. Wisconsin isn’t West Virginia. I’ll be looking forward to seeing who gets the nomination.