Poll: Most Respondents Don’t Want Walker, Ryan For GOP Presidential Nomination

Most respondents to the new Wisconsin Survey said that they don’t want the Republican Party to nominate either U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan or Gov. Scott Walker for the presidency.

Both Wisconsinites have been seen as potential nominees in the event of a contested GOP convention this summer.

Ryan said he won’t accept a nomination. Walker dropped out of the presidential primary last fall.

Just more than half of the respondents to the poll said that they felt it would be OK if the party nominated someone other than Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump — even if he had the most delegates.

Scott Furlong, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, said that most respondents seem to want the party’s nomination process to proceed without drafting Wisconsin politicians.

“Since they’re either not been part of it or have dropped out so long ago, they seem almost out of the process at this point and they’d like to see the process sort of work through the way the rules have been established, and maybe Wisconsinites are rule followers that way,” he said.

Fifty-four percent of respondents would oppose a Ryan nomination while 35 percent said they would support him. Seventy-one percent said they would oppose a Walker nomination, but 24 percent said they would welcome his return to the presidential race.

The survey polled more than 616 registered voters in Wisconsin over mobile and landline phones from April 12 to April 15. The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percent.

The survey was conducted by Wisconsin Public Radio, Wisconsin Public Television and the Strategic Research Institute at St. Norbert College.

Stay tuned to Wisconsin Public Radio and WPR.org for continuing coverage.

Credits: Jennifer Hadley/Wisconsin Public Television (infographic illustrations).