A Badger Battleground poll of 500 likely voters conducted Aug. 12–13 found Democrat David Crowley at 48 percent and Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany at 44 percent in Wisconsin's governor's race, a 4-point lead within the poll's ±4.4-point margin of error. Among independents, Crowley led 42 percent to 30 percent. The survey followed Crowley's primary win over democratic socialist Francesca Hong.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley defeated state Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, in Wisconsin's August 11 Democratic primary for governor by a margin AP reported at about half a percentage point; AP declared Crowley the winner after Hong's concession removed the possibility of a recount. AP reported that nearly 40% of primary voters supported Hong, who had led pre-primary polling. Crowley faces Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, endorsed by President Trump, in November.
Crowley dropped out of the race on July 8 and rejoined it on July 18 with Gov. Tony Evers' endorsement.
In Jacobin, Branko Marcetic argued that Francesca Hong's 0.5-point loss to David Crowley in Wisconsin's Democratic gubernatorial primary should not be read as a rejection of socialist candidates generally, noting that five of eight DSA-chapter-endorsed candidates in Wisconsin and Minnesota won their races the same night, four more advanced to the general unopposed, and five of seven DSA-backed candidates advanced in Connecticut and Vermont. Marcetic wrote that Wisconsin socialists have gone, in the space of a few years, from no state-legislature representation to two assembly members.
The piece links an August 12 Politico article as an example of coverage reading the result as a wholesale rejection of down-ballot socialists.