By Milwaukee Courier Staff
Alex Lasry
This week, new polling gave the public the latest look into how the Wisconsin Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate is shaping up. The polling showed that Milwaukee Bucks Executive Alex Lasry has made significant gains against frontrunner Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.
On Tuesday, Lasry’s campaign released a poll showing him down just 8 points, 27%-35%. According to the poll, Lasry’s vote share among Democratic primary voters has grown by 23 points since the fall. Lasry’s campaign claimed that the poll also showed that Lasry’s momentum is even more apparent among voters who know both Lasry and Barnes. Among the voters who know both candidates, Lasry leads Barnes 41%-35%, the campaign said.
Wednesday, the long-awaited Marquette Law School showed a similar picture with Barnes leading Lasry by 10 points at 23%-13%, down significantly from internal polling that Barnes’ campaign had previously released claiming that Barnes led by over 30 points.
No other candidate registered more than 5% in Marquette University Law School’s poll.
Lasry’s gains have come on the heels of two seven-figure media buys that the campaign has made over the last six months. Lasry was one of the first candidates in the nation and is the only candidate in Wisconsin’s Democratic primary to air television ads thus far.
In a press release, Lasry’s campaign’s campaign manager Garren Randolph stated, “In the last two days, we have seen two polls that show essentially the same thing – Alex Lasry has made this primary into a two-person race and is quickly closing the gap.”
The Marquette poll also tested the favorability of Ron Johnson, finding that Johnson is viewed favorably by 33% of voters and unfavorably by 45% of voters. His favorability has consistently trended downwards since 2019.
Johnson announced his run for reelection earlier this year after former President Donald Trump encouraged him to. Johnson’s choice to run for a third term breaks a previous promise he made to only serve two terms. Johnson’s campaign has also been airing television ads since his announcement in January.
The Democratic primary is on Aug. 9. In addition to Barnes and Lasry, Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, and Businessman Steven Olikara are among the Democrats in the primary field. The winner of the August primary will face Johnson in November.