Latest poll puts Doyle ahead

The article below is from the Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel.
Of course, Green doubts the poll, he also believes that there is no such thing as global warming and that stem cell research is a bad thing. Moron. Maybe the abominable snowman is blowing the politican's hot air around to create the horrible hurricanes we've been dealing with. And maybe it's better to put our faith in God than rely on science to use embryos for curing disease instead of just throwing them away (I don't see why we can't do both). Republicans don't even know what the republican values are anymore. Why would anyone trust them? How quickly people forgot that it was Tommy Thompson (another Republican) who put our state into the deficit that it's in right now, oh wait, the Dems are winning in the polls, people DO remember!

Latest poll puts Doyle ahead, but Green camp doubts it
By STACY FORSTERsforster@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 18, 2006
Madison -With less than three weeks to go until the election, Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle is leading his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Mark Green of Green Bay, according to a new poll released today.
The poll was conducted by Wisconsin Public Radio and the St. Norbert College Survey Center and showed that 51% of respondents said they would likely vote for Doyle, compared with 38% who favored Green. Green Party candidate Nelson Eisman was the choice of 1% of respondents, 4% favored another candidate and the rest weren't sure. The telephone poll surveyed 400 likely Wisconsin voters from Oct. 9 to 16 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.
The survey window is longer than many other polls because interviewers make repeated attempts to contact those who are randomly identified for the survey, rather than giving up and moving on to other respondents, said Wendy Scattergood, assistant professor of political science at St. Norbert College.
The random sample also included more Democrats than Republicans, Scattergood said.
In the race for attorney general, Democratic candidate Kathleen Falk was the choice of 44% of respondents, compared with 38% for Republican J.B. Van Hollen, within the margin of error. Seven percent said they favored another candidate and the rest weren't sure or declined to answer.
Other recent surveys have shown Doyle with a much narrower lead, within the margin of error of those polls, indicating the race is a dead heat.
An online poll by Zogby Interactive in cooperation with the Wall Street Journal Online was conducted from Oct. 10 to 16 and showed the race at 47.4% for Doyle and 45.6% for Green. Others weren't broken out. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.
Mike Prentiss, a spokesman for the Green campaign, said the Wisconsin Public Radio-St. Norbert poll was inconsistent with other findings, such as those of the Zogby poll.
"Every other independent poll in this race has shown an incredibly close race," Prentiss said. "We like where we're positioned, and momentum is on Mark Green's side."
The Doyle campaign is feeling good about its position at this point in the race, said Doyle spokesman Anson Kaye. "We've said all along that polls go up and polls go down, but we're pleased to be leading this one as we have in most of the polls that have been done," Kaye said.
Respondents were also asked what was the most important factor in driving their choice for governor. The No. 1 issue was taxes, cited by 14% of respondents. And of those who rated taxes first, more planned to vote for Green, Scattergood said. Green also led among the 10.8% who said personal character was the most important factor, she said.
Doyle was the leading choice of those who pointed to education, which was most important to 13.3% and second on the list of issues, and of the 11.3% of respondents who said the economy was most important, putting it third. Doyle also led among the 5% who put health care first, Scattergood said.
Other poll findings:
Marriage amendment: The poll showed that a majority of respondents favored a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions that resemble marriage.
Fifty-one percent of respondents said they supported the amendment, 44% said they opposed it, 5% weren't sure or declined to answer the question.
The result is similar to other polls finding that a majority of voters support the amendment.
Death penalty: Respondents also favored an advisory referendum asking whether the death penalty should be enacted in Wisconsin in cases of first-degree homicide that are supported by DNA evidence. Fifty percent of respondents supported the idea, which will be used to guide lawmakers in making policy, while 45% were against it and 5% weren't sure or declined to answer the question.
Those results were also consistent with other recent polls.