August 23, 2010
For Immediate Release
Contact: John Hogan, (608) 257-8039

Poll: Senator Russ Decker in Trouble

Only 35% of voters say Decker has done a good enough job to deserve re-election

(MADISON)… A poll conducted recently by The Tarrance Group reveals that only 35% of voters believe that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Senator Russ Decker (Weston) has done a good enough job to deserve re-election.  Even without naming any opponent against Senator Decker, 53% of voters surveyed believe that it is time to give a new person a chance.

With 65% of voters saying the state is on the wrong track, voters are putting the crosshairs on career politicians like Democrat Russ Decker, who along with Governor Jim Doyle, bear responsibility because they control all branches of Wisconsin state government.

Furthermore, when voters in Senator Decker’s district were asked if they’d vote for a Republican or a Democrat without naming any candidates’ names, 50% of voters say they’d vote for the Republican while only 38% said they’d vote for the Democrat.  With the “generic” ballot score favoring Republicans by 12 points, the tide of sentiment clearly is against Senator Decker and other Democratic incumbents.

Historically, Democratic incumbent senators have lost, even with stronger “soft re-elect” and better generic environments for Democrats than Decker is currently seeing.  The following are “soft re-elect” and “generic” scores of the last three Democratic senators who were thrown out of office, compared to Senator Decker:

 
“Over 170,000 jobs have left our state under Senator Decker’s watch the past 4 years,” said John Hogan, Director of the Committee to Elect a Republican Senate.  “Senator Decker is responsible for raising taxes and making the cost of doing business too expensive for companies like Fiskars, Harley-Davidson, Briggs & Stratton, GM, and Polaris, all of which are moving jobs to other states.  Voters gave big-spending liberals like Russ Decker and Jim Doyle a chance and they failed.”

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