Republican Gov. Scott Walker ekes out a narrow victory in the recall efforts by Tom Barrett, the Democratic mayor of Milwaukee. And while state Democrats probably will criticize President Obama for not making an appearance here, which potentially could have boosted the Democratic turnout. Despite this seeming setback that was watched by pundits and the electorate nationwide, the exit polls also show that if the presidential election had been held today, Obama would have won the state easily.
Political pundits are mining through this much-talked about recall effort to locate clues into the presidential election this November. And early CBS News exit polls show that President Obama would have an advantage over presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney in the battleground state if the presidential race was held today.
Other interesting facts procured from Wisconsin’s controversial recall efforts:
Among voters in today’s recall election, 51 percent said they would pick Mr. Obama, compared to 45 percent for Romney. Two percent say they won’t vote. However, it should be noted that there is a lot of time before the November elections, and it’s too soon to tell what the electorate will be like in five months.
In 2008, Mr. Obama defeated Republican Sen. John McCain by 14 percentage points in Wisconsin.
Fifty-two percent of Wisconsin voters in the early exit polls have a favorable view of unions for government workers, while 43 percent have an unfavorable opinion of these unions. Among voters in unions households (public or not), 69 percent view these unions favorably.
On the issue of collective bargaining, 50 percent of Wisconsin voters say they approved of the recent changes to state law that limits collective bargaining for government workers, but 48 percent disapproved of these changes.
— terry shropshire
