Poll: Ron Johnson widens lead over Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin Senate race

Incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson is widening the gap over his Democratic challenger, Mandela Barnes, in Wisconsin’s Senate race, a new poll from Marquette Law School found.

The poll, whose results were released on Wednesday, has Johnson racking up support of 52 percent of likely voters, compared with Barnes’ 46 percent. The results are a jump from September, when polls showed Johnson polling just 1 percentage point ahead of Barnes, but are still within the survey’s margin of sampling error. Barnes has seen a decline in the polls over recent months after facing a slew of attack ads depicting him as soft on crime.

Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race, meanwhile, has tightened: 47 percent of likely voters support incumbent Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, 46 percent back Republican challenger Tim Michels, and 4 percent support independent Joan Belinger. Only 1 percent of likely voters are still undecided in the gubernatorial race, according to the poll, which surveyed 652 likely voters in Wisconsin from Oct. 3 to Oct. 9 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.8 percentage points.

Both the Senate and gubernatorial races remain highly partisan. Ninety-three percent of Democrats support Barnes and 96 percent of Republicans support Johnson, while 96 percent of Democrats support Evers and 88 percent of Republicans support Michels.

The Republicans in both races hold a lead among independent voters, with Michels squeaking out a 1 point lead (44 percent to Evers’ 43) and Johnson dominating with 51 percent to Barnes’ 45.