Likely voters in Wisconsin disapprove of Black Lives Matter protests by a 49 percent to 46 percent margin, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Marquette Law School.
The poll found Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by a margin of four points, 47 percent to 43 percent, which is within the poll’s 4.3 percent margin of error:
In early September, Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden is the choice of 47 percent of likely voters and Republican President Donald Trump is supported by 43 percent. Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen is the choice of 4 percent, while 7 percent say they would vote for none of these candidates, didn’t know how they would vote or declined to say.
In August, before the events in Kenosha, Biden was supported by 49 percent and Trump by 44 percent, with 6 percent not choosing either. Jorgensen was not included in the August poll. In June among likely voters, Biden had 50 percent and Trump 44 percent, with 6 percent not choosing either.
President Trump won the state of Wisconsin and its 10 electoral college votes in the 2016 presidential election when he defeated Hillary Clinton by a one percent margin, just 27,000 votes, 47.9 percent to 46.9 percent. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson received 3.6 percent of the vote and Green Party candidate Jill Stein received 1.1 percent of the vote.
The poll of 688 likely voters was conducted between August 30 and September 3 and has a margin of error of 4.3 percent.
When asked, “Do you approve or disapprove of the mass protests that have been held since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis?” 49 percent of poll respondents said they disapproved, while 46 percent said they approved.
Among the larger sample of the poll that included 114 registered voters who were not likely voters as well as 688 likely voters (for a sample size of 802), 48 percent of respondents disapproved, while 47 percent approved.
Notably, intensity of disapproval was significantly higher than intensity of approval among likely voters.
Protesters with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement march through Manhattan. The Wisconsin National Guard has been deployed to Kenosha after the man was shot several times at close range during an encounter with a police officer, which was caught on video. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Twenty-six percent of respondents “strongly approve” of the mass protests, while 20 percent “somewhat approve” of the protests.
In contrast, 35 percent of respondents “strongly disapprove” of the mass protests, while 14 percent “somewhat disapprove” of the protests.
The results of the latest poll show virtually no change overall among likely voters in Wisconsin about approval or disapproval of the Black Lives Matter protests when compared to the results of the Marquette Law School poll conducted between August 4 and August 9, when 49 percent of likely voters disapproved of the protests, while 47 percent approved of them.
These results are surprising, given the national significance Kenosha, Wisconsin riots, which began on August 23, subsequent to the early August poll but before the poll results released.
As Breitbart News reported, however, there was a massive drop in approval for the Black Lives Matter protests among registered voters in Wisconsin between the Marquette Law School poll conducted in early June and the subsequent poll conducted in early August:
Public approval of the Black Lives Matter movement has plunged by a net 25 points in the past two months, according to data from a Marquette Law School Poll conducted between August 4 and August 9.
The result was released on Wednesday by poll director Charles Franklin.
In a statewide poll conducted between June 14 and June 18, the Marquette Law School Poll showed 61 percent of Wisconsin voters approved of the Black Lives Matter protests, while 36 percent disapproved of those protest. By a margin of 25 points, more Wisconsin voters approved of BLM than disapproved of BLM.
That same Marquette Law School poll conducted in June showed Joe Biden leading Donald Trump by 6 points in the state, 50 percent to 44 percent.
In a subsequent statewide poll conducted between August 4 and August 9, the Marquette Law School Poll saw approval drop 13 points, from 61 percent to 48 percent, while disapproval jumped by 12 points, from 36 percent to 48 percent. Stunningly, the net margin of approval versus disapproval among Wisconsin voters of BLM has dropped from plus 25 to zero in just two months.
That same Marquette Law School Poll conducted in August showed that Joe Biden leads Donald Trump by 5 points in the state, 49 percent to 44 percent.
“Despite all those real world events, there’s very little change in this poll,” Poll Director Charles Franklin said in a video released by Marquette Law School on Wednesday.
“It’s interesting to see what has changed and when it changed,” Franklin said of approval of Black Lives Matter.
“Almost no difference at all in the wake of Kenosha. But a substantial movement that took place over the course of the summer. . . People did change their views of the protests, but that happened in June and July, and not as a direct consequence of Kenosha,” Franklin added.
Franklin did not offer a specific reason why views towards Black Lives Matter protests among Wisconsin voters changed so dramatically in June and July but did not change after the Kenosha riots in late August.
You can watch the full video here:
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.