Voters in Menasha make their way to the UW Oshkosh Fox Cities campus to cast their ballots. April 2, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Results from Tuesday’s primary election in Wisconsin give us a better look at what we might expect come November, when the stakes will be much higher.
Voter turnout around the state was forecast to be low.
“You know, turnout is determined by so many factors, most of which has to do with the people on the ballot,” said Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffries.
And the big names on the ballot — Donald Trump and Joe Biden — didn’t really need voters to turn out in the primary. Both candidates were already heading to the general election in November having secured the necessary delegates weeks earlier.
But the results of those who did turn out to vote in the primary are telling.
Former President Trump in the Republican primary got 475,363 votes, or 79.2% of the Republican votes cast. But that shows nearly 21% of those in the Republican primary did not choose Trump, although Trump did fare better in places like Oconto County (87.6%) and Marinette County (86%). But statewide, political experts say those not choosing Trump could be a problem come November.
“Trump still has, as expected by many observers, still has a small portion of the Republican electorate who really don’t want him to be the nominee. This is the GOP version of the uninstructed delegate,” said Arnold Shober, a political science professor at Lawrence University.
“It’s a warning but it’s not the end of the road for Trump,” added Shober.
In the Democratic primary, President Joe Biden received 510,447 votes, which was 88.6% of the Democratic votes cast. He did even better in Northeast Wisconsin, with 91.7% in Brown County, and 91.1% in Outagamie County.
The uninstructed vote was much lower for Biden, even though there was a push among some in the Democratic primary to vote uninstructed as a protest vote. They are unhappy with the Biden administration’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war and have held similar protests in other state primaries with better success.
“Given the 10, 15, 18 percent that uninstructed delegates have picked up in other states, other primary states, it is a little bit less of an impressive showing for folks who want to send that kind of message through this ballot,” explained Shober.
While Biden received more votes than Trump, more Republicans came out to vote — an indication of the importance for both candidates to excite the electorate heading toward November.
“It’ll be a tough-fought election here in Wisconsin. We’ll see a lot of the candidates, a lot of their messages and hopefully we’ll make a good choice in the end,” said Shober.
Also on the ballot, voters decided private money to fund elections will be banned in Wisconsin. And voters also approved an amendment to the constitution to say that only election officials can administer elections.
Shober points out while the measures were put on the ballot by Republican legislators, they won approval with crossover votes from Democrats, although not overwhelmingly. The private funding measure won with 54.4% of the vote, while the other measure garnered 58.6%.
Comments