Thompson Leads - Marquette Poll

The numbers released by Public Policy Polling on Tuesday showed Eric Hovde with a slight lead, within the margin of error, over Tommy Thompson in the Republican primary race for U.S. Senate.

On Wednesday, the Marquette University Law School poll was released, this one showing Thompson with a 12-point lead over Hovde, his closet rival.

Wisconsin's U.S. Senate race is tightening as next month's primary election approaches, according to a poll released Wednesday.

The new Marquette University Law School poll showed former Gov. Tommy Thompson still leading both his Democratic rival and Republican challengers, but by a smaller margin than previous polls.

With the Aug. 14 Republican primary less than five weeks away, Thompson continues to lead his GOP rivals with 35 percent support. But millionaire hedge fund manager and political newcomer Eric Hovde had surged into second place, the poll found, jumping 9 points to win 23 percent support among those polled. Hovde, who has been advertising heavily and has had the most prominent TV ad presence among the candidates, had just 14 percent support in mid-June. That previous Marquette poll showed Thompson with a far more commanding lead of about 20 percent over Hovde.

Both led Republican challengers former U.S. Rep. Mark Neumann, who had about 10 percent support in the recent poll, and Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald, R-Horicon, who trailed with 6 percent.

A quarter, or 25 percent, remain undecided, the poll said.

...When it came to the general election in the race, Thompson continued to lead U.S. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, Marquette pollsters found, but Baldwin appears to be closing the gap between them. Thompson had 45 percent support compared to Baldwin's 41 percent support, a difference within the polls margin of error. In June, Thompson had 49 percent support compared to Baldwin's 41 percent, according to the polls.

Looking at both polls, it does appear that people are embracing Hovde as an alternative to Thompson.

He may not be leading in the Marquette poll, but his progress in the race is evident.

At present, I am among the undecided.

For each of the Republican candidates, I can make the case for and against.

Each has strengths and weaknesses. Without question, each Republican is by far the superior candidate in a match-up with Tammy Baldwin.

Defeating Tammy Baldwin is the goal. First and foremost, that's what matters to me.