A new survey of likely Wisconsin voters finds Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in a dead heat against three of the top four Republican candidates. Even though Wisconsin has not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1984, and even though George W. Bush has a current job approval rating of 36 percent, Clinton does not receive more than 45 percent support in matchups against Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain, or Mitt Romney, according to an October 3 Rasmussen poll of 500 likely voters.
Wisconsin has decidedly leaned Democratic in recent years. In 2006, the party picked up an open U.S. House seat, won back control of the State Senate, and picked up 8 seats in the State Assembly. The Badger State also re-elected Democratic Governor Jim Doyle, despite the Governor carrying job approval ratings in the mid-40s throughout much of 2006 (Doyle has a 38 percent approval rating in the new Rasmussen survey).
Despite this pro-Democratic Party trend, the state is not enamored thus far with the former First Lady. Clinton has a very high 47 percent unfavorable rating, but remains competitive because Giuliani (44 percent), McCain (44 percent), and Romney (48 percent) have high unfavorable ratings as well (Thompson's unfavorable rating was 39 percent, with 12 percent undecided).
In head-to-head matchups, Clinton leads Giuliani 43-42 percent, Thompson 44-41 percent, and McCain 43-40 percent—all within the margin of error. Clinton leads Romney 45-35 percent. Matchups for this Rasmussen poll were not conducted with Barack Obama and John Edwards, the other top Democratic contenders.
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