Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton leads GOP opponent Donald Trump by 7 points among likely voters in Wisconsin, according to a new poll.
{mosads}A Marquette University Law School Poll released Wednesday found Clinton topping Trump, 44 to 37 percent. Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson takes 9 percent, while Green Party nominee Jill Stein got 3 percent support.
Part of the new survey was conducted after Friday’s release of audio from 2005 that revealed Trump making sexually explicit comments about women, but before the presidential debate on Sunday. Pollsters at the Milwaukee school said Clinton topped Trump by a 19-point margin in questioning on Saturday and Sunday.
The former secretary of State has seen a bounce in the polls following the audio leak, and some national polls have Clinton in the double digits.
Clinton has extended her lead by several points in Wisconsin since September, when she led Trump by 3 points among likely voters, 41 to 38 percent.
Marquette University Law School pollsters also found former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) with a 2-point lead over Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), 46 to 44 percent. Feingold’s lead has narrowed since the September poll, which showed him ahead of the GOP incumbent by 5 points.
Johnson’s campaign touted the poll as evidence that the race is tightening with less than a month to go until Election Day.
“As we’ve consistently said, this is going to be a tight race with a real choice for Wisconsinites – between an Oshkosh manufacturer getting things done and a 34-year career politician saying one thing and doing another,” spokesman Brian Reisinger said. “The home stretch has only just begun, but it’s becoming clear Wisconsinites are getting ready to fire Senator Feingold for good.”
For Feingold’s part, his campaign attacked the GOP senator for being on the side of Trump and millionaires.
“Sen. Johnson can defend Donald Trump and multi-millionaires like himself all the way to Election Day, but Russ will continue to fight for Wisconsin’s middle class and working families,” spokesman Michael Tyler said.
Pollsters questioned 878 likely voters Oct. 6–9. The margin of error of the new poll is 3.9 percentage points.