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deserve.
>> Reporting from Madison.

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I'm Zach Schultz for "Here&
Now".

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>> Notwithstanding our
efforts to bring you the

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positions of the candidates
for state, Supreme Court

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and governor in our weekly
reporting on issues in the

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races, a new Marquette Law
School poll this week shows

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two thirds of voters are
undecided between judges

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Chris Taylor and Maria
Lazar in the April 7th

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election for Supreme Court.
Likewise, in the large

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field of Democratic
candidates in the lone

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Republican in the race for
governor, which will be

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narrowed in an August
primary, the poll shows no

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runaway leader, with most
candidates not well known

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by voters. Poll director
Charles Franklin joins us

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now. And thanks for being
here.

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>> So what does it say
about voter engagement,

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when roughly 66% of your
respondents don't know

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enough about the two
Supreme Court candidates

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less than two months away?
>> Yeah, I think it's first

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of all, it is unusually low
engagement this year. It's

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not nearly as high as it
was a year ago or in the

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gubernatorial races as it
was in, say, 2018 or 2022.

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So we do seem a little less
engaged right now. Some of

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that is that the
advertising has not really

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kicked in in the Supreme
Court race compared to

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where it was a year ago.
This time, only 6% said

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they'd heard or read a lot
about the Supreme Court

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race a year ago. That was
39% at this same time in

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February. So I think those
things will pick up. But

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we're getting started a bit
slower than we did a year

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ago.
>> I'll say in the

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governor's race, most of
the eight major candidates

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between 52 and 82% who took
your poll have not heard

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enough about them. Of
course, former Lieutenant

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Governor Mandela Barnes is
a little better known. But

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should anyone take stock in
this kind of poll number at

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this point.
>> I think the stock you

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take is the disengagement
that all of these

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candidates have work to do,
introducing themselves to

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voters. Mandela Barnes is
the best known by a good

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bit, followed by Tom
Tiffany, followed by Sarah

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Rodriguez on the Democratic
side. But all of them have

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the chance to introduce
themselves to voters over

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the next however many eight
months it is seven months

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till the primary, but that
will take time. And often

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we see that in primaries
people don't really tune in

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until June.
>> On the issues which you

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also pulled on. Data
centers, as we all know,

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are a hot topic right now.
You looked at how people

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viewed the cost benefit
analysis of them. Your

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results show respondents
from all parties think the

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costs outweigh the benefits,
but who wins the day here?

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Public opinion or moneyed
interests?

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>> Well, moneyed interests
are certainly important,

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and the development of
these centers is an

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economic priority for a
whole industry. But the

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public has not been
convinced. I think the

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proponents of data centers
have failed to convince the

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public that those benefits
are real. People recognize

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that technical jobs and tax
revenue for communities are

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important benefits, but
they look at water usage as

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a big concern cost. They
also are concerned about

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electricity. Maybe
surprisingly, the second

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biggest cost people point
to is developing AI and

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saying we shouldn't develop
artificial intelligence. So

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there's a real need to
communicate with voters

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about what those benefits
are or the the critics end

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up with the upper hand on
this. And we've seen a big

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movement away from data
centers since October. When

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we first asked.
>> On immigration, the way

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its enforcement has rolled
out is not favored, with

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44%, just 44% approving and
5,456% disapproving, do you

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think? But for the
Minneapolis surge and the

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shooting deaths by the
Border Patrol of two people,

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these numbers would look
different.

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>> I think that the events
that have been going on in

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Minneapolis have certainly
tilted independents away

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from the way they view ICE
Republican approval of ICE

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is still quite high in the
7070 plus percent range,

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80% actually on ICE. But
Democrats are deeply

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negative. More importantly
is independents. Now three

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quarters are negative about
ICE.

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>> Then there's the issue
everyone is talking about.

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That is property taxes
versus school funding. Your

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poll results show 60% of
registered voters prefer

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reducing property tax,
while 40% would rather

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spend more on public
schools. Now, you have been

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pulling on this for for
years. Is this newly

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resonant?
>> Now it.

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>> Is, but it's been
building for a long time.

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We've seen this trend move.
We've done, I think it's 26

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polls on this since 2012.
This is the biggest ever

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that say property taxes are
more important. 60 to 40.

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We saw a big majority
saying schools were more

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important in 2015 to 2019,
but those trends have moved

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in opposite directions.
Property taxes are really