The following program is a PBS Wisconsin original production.
>> You're watching here and Now. 2024 Election Coverage. A Trump
Harris matchup will not be seen again on the debate stage, but
candidate matchups in the polls will only increase leading up to
November. I'm Frederica Freyberg. Tonight on "Here& Now"
we'll hear the latest matchups from Marquette Law School poll
director Charles Franklin. Then a report on the threats mounting
against election workers and elected officials. And how home
values and recent tax levies might impact your wallet at
year's end. It's "Here& Now" for September 13.
>> Funding for here and Now is provided by the Focus Fund for
Journalism and Friends of PBS. Wisconsin.
between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump had voters tuning in to
the ABC news presidential debate in their living rooms and at
watch parties across the state, including in green Bay, where
big screen allowed Democrats to follow every word and where
across town, Republicans took in the debate that saw Harris Perry
successfully with her challenger. Here's a clip with
the candidates responding to the issue of abortion.
>> Her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month
is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth, it's
execution no longer abortion because the baby is born is
okay, and that's not okay with me. Hence, the vote.
>> There is no state in this country where it is legal to
kill a baby after it's born. Madam Vice President, I want to
get your response to President Trump.
>> Well, as I said, you're going to hear a bunch of lies. And
that's not actually a surprising fact. Let's understand how we
got here. Donald Trump hand selected three members of the
United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would
undo the protections of Roe v Wade. And they did exactly as he
intended. >> How might the debate
performances of the candidates move the needle in the 53 day
sprint to Election Day? We asked Marquette University Law School
poll director Charles Franklin out this week with his latest
survey. And hi, Charles. Good to be here. So your latest survey
was in the field before the debate. But does a successful
performance move the needle for a candidate?
>> I think historically, less and less recently than it did in
the past. I think good perspective is Joe Biden had an
absolutely terrible debate, and he only lost about four
percentage points in the polls before he dropped out. So I
think expecting a debate bump of any kind, three, 4 or 5 points
would be wildly out of line with what the last debate did. A
point or two, maybe, but it may also help bring people home to
their party's Moore solidify the votes for both sides.
>> So your poll was in the field immediately following the
did see some movement for Kamala Harris with 52% to 48% for
Harris over Donald Trump. How does that compare to your
polling last month? Yeah, that was a couple of points up for
Harris and a point down for Trump.
Remember the margin of error is 4.6. So each of those moves is
modest compared to the margin of error. But it does reinforce the
idea that Harris had a pretty good convention. And that that
showed up in this poll. >> It's also your first poll
with VP candidate Tim Walz on the ticket. What kind of
favorability does he have, and does he factor into this?
>> Of the four presidential and vice presidential, Walz is the
only one with a net positive favorability plus six more
favorable than unfavorable. But he also has the largest don't
know at 19%, that don't know enough about him yet, and so
initially, the reaction is strong. We asked the same
question of Walz that we asked about JD Vance. Do you think
he's an excellent, good, fair or poor choice among Democrats? 90%
think Walz is an excellent or good choice. Among Republicans,
it was 75%. That said, the same thing about JD Vance the week
after that convention. So both parties are quite satisfied with
their VP nominees. Democrats are a little bit more.
>> Let's take a look at the Wisconsin U.S. Senate race.
Among registered voters, it's 52% for Tammy Baldwin to 48% for
Eric Hovde. Now, this has tightened a little.
>> It has tightened a little. The range over recent polls has
been between about a four point Baldwin lead and about a seven
point lead. It was closer to five last time, so just a
smidgen closer. One thing that's happened is Hovde has been
getting better and better known. Only 22% still say they haven't
heard enough about him. Now that was 80% in January and this time
he made a little bit of progress on the favorable unfavorable
dimension. He's still net negative, but he's a little
better than he was last month. >> One thing that stood out to
me in your polling on this particular race was that
independents favor Baldwin by 65% to Hovde 33%.
>> The caution here is independents are a fairly small
sample. There are only about 6 or 8% of the public. So there's
a lot of margin of error there. But what we have seen
consistently is independents were favoring Trump, while Biden
was still in. They came to about evenly divided last month. This
month they're pretty strongly favoring both sets of Democrats,
Harris and Baldwin. I would be very cautious about thinking
this is a permanent position because of the sample size and
because independents are independents, they do change
their minds and they can be so critical in the last week or two
of the campaign making up their minds late.
>> Let's talk about enthusiasm to vote in your poll. This also
stood out. 72% of Democrats say they are very enthusiastic to
vote, compared to 63% of Republicans. Now, how have these
numbers shifted? Back in the spring and through
the point where Biden dropped out, Republicans were 10 to 15
points or even 20 points at one stage ahead of Democrats in
enthusiasm in July, when Biden dropped out and Harris had just
gotten in the race, we saw Democrats close the gap in
almost catch up to Republicans this month. Democrats have
pulled clearly ahead. I should add, Republicans got more
enthusiastic after their like they were lacking
enthusiasm. They gained as well. But they've held steady this
month while Democrats continued to rise.
>> What are the kinds of events that factor in particularly to
enthusiasm? thing is simply the change of
candidates that Joe Biden is still quite unpopular in the
state, only 41% approve of the job he was doing, and that was a
tremendous drag on Democrats and boost to Republicans. With him
out and Harris having had a good stretch, news wise and
presentation wise, I think that is a big part of this shift.
>> I'm talking about issues. The top three for Wisconsin
respondents were the economy, abortion and immigration was, of
course, the economy kind of way outside. But there's a sharp
partisan split in. Who cares about what issues.
partisan groups Republicans, independents and Democrats put
the economy either first or second. So that's very high for
everybody. Democrats put abortion as their top issue, but
independents put it way down as an important issue. And for
Republicans, they put immigration as the second
highest issue. But independents put that quite a ways down. So
if you think about trying to appeal to those undecided or
independent voters, the economy is the place where everybody
cares. And then you've got two issues that really appeal to the
bases of each party, but don't seem to appeal that much to
independents. thank you very much for your
work. >> A House Committee in
Washington heard this week from election officials who say they
have dealt with threats from voters who distrust election
results in Wisconsin, clerks and elected officials, including
judges, have also been targets of disturbing election related
threats "Here& Now". Reporter Steven Potter has more on this.
>> Until a few years ago, like, never thought about my personal
safety. clerks like Melissa Kono, and
one of the places that I train election workers, they had to
call the sheriff because there was an observer who had gotten
angry. She's been administering elections for more than a decade
as the clerk for the town of Burnside in west central
Wisconsin. so much from when I started it.
You know, I never initially thought that I would have to
talk to them about de-escalation. And how do you
get Ahold of the sheriff if you're getting a threat?
>> Kono trains other municipal clerks around the state. As an
associate professor with the UW Division of Extension.
>> There are outright threats, right. But there are also
comments and things that are said that feel threatening.
>> She noticed the shift in tone around 2018.
their scales. In my machine. And I know that, you know that
you're changing my vote like things, things like that that
weren't weren't there before. Are you worried that those kind
of comments could increase or evolve into threats? Yes,
definitely. Because I think that there's a reason somebody is
saying things coming into the polling place and saying things
like that, like they're looking for an argument or a fight, but
it's just like this extra level of concern and concern for our
safety. Like, I didn't get into being the clerk to have to stave
off physical threats. >> Kono and other clerks around
Wisconsin aren't alone. It's a nationwide problem, one that
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland addressed last week.
>> Election officials, workers and volunteers, and communities
across the country have been targeted with heinous acts and
threats of violence, according to an annual report released
last May from the Brennan for Center justice.
officials experienced threats, harassment or abuse, and more
than half of local election officials reported being
concerned about the safety of their colleagues or staff.
>> And I just fear it's going to get worse. You know, as we get
closer to November, there are public officials. I mean, we're
listed publicly. There's no way around that.
>> But election workers aren't Wisconsin Supreme Court justice
Jill Karofsky knows this all too well.
>> So I personally have had several threats since I have
been on the court. The first time I received substantial
threats was after the 2020 presidential election. They were
misogynistic in nature. They were anti-Semitic in nature. And
that went on for weeks and weeks.
instance when you saw and heard about these threats?
>> It's terrifying. Am I worried for myself? I worried for my
kids. It's not something that you I ever conceived of. I've
been involved in Wisconsin politics and Wisconsin
government since I was eight years old, and my mom ran for
city council and the city of Middleton. It's not something
you think about. And when suddenly you are confronted with
it, it stops you in your tracks. >> According to the state
Supreme Court, Marshall's office, there were nearly 150
threats made against Wisconsin judges last year. Justice
Karofsky says that heated political rhetoric and election
fraud conspiracies are fueling the fire.
were making these threats were extremists on the fringe. That
is no longer the case. Now we have leaders talking about
things like Bloodbaths for God's sakes. So we all need to be
vigilant. >> Karofsky also says that
threats like she's received have wide ranging and grand
implications on society as a whole.
>> They are trying to instill fear in me, so I will make a
decision not based on the law. So I will make a decision
because I am scared. >> How does that impact, our
elective process or democracy as a whole?
our democracy. I think the public needs to understand these
threats are real. I think we all have an obligation in our
democracy to be ever vigilant about these threats.
>> Governor Tony Evers did sign a bipartisan package of bills
related to judicial security last March. It covered making a
judge's personal information and security detail private, and
made it a crime to protest outside a judge's home.
Karofsky, however, says simply that more security is needed.
>> We need to dedicate more resources to protecting people
like me who who are being the recipients of these threats.
>> On the other side of these threats are those who are making
them. And for that part, criminal prosecution is possibl.
Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney says his
office has charged and prosecuted a few threat related
cases over the years. >> We have one case where a
legislator was threatened as well, and we also see threats to
judges. At times, we're handling one in another county as a
special prosecution. I've had a few death threats made to me
during my time as Da Toney says, that just like the range of
targets, the different types of ways that threats are delivered
also varies. It can really be anything. It can be a voice
message, it can be a phone call, it could be a letter, it could
be something in writing. It could be an oral statement to
somebody. It can be things over the internet. We see how I think
when people can have some anonymity on the internet. We
see some very toxic words that are put out on social media.
>> In a recent case prosecuted by Tony's office, a 75 year old
fond du Lac County man was convicted after threatening to
kill state lawmakers that if they pass a law that they will
be killed and murdered. >> That's a threat to democracy.
And so we took that very seriously in this case, he was
an elderly man, no firearms and no prior criminal history over
70. And so ultimately the sentence was only a few days in
jail. What I have liked to have seen more. Yes, but this
individual now has a felony conviction. He cannot purchase a
firearm. And so there is an added sense of security in that
respect. >> Threats and security concerns
could also discourage some candidates from running for
office. up the higher the level of
office that someone looks at, no matter what level of government.
>> Tony says that threats to civil servants will not be
tolerated. in politics, and if that ever
occurs, we're going to aggressively investigate and
prosecute that threats have no place in politics for "Here&
Now". >> I'm Steven Potter signatures
or address on their cases of Covid have been increasing since
August and are expected to keep rising as cold weather brings
people indoors. >> This as overall vaccine
uptake continues to decline. State health officials are
encouraging people to get the newest Covid and flu vaccines,
but as for required vaccinations, more K-12 students
are getting personal conviction waivers a matter of concern as
the vaccine rate for measles continues to fall well below
what's needed to prevent an outbreak.
>> 2024 has shown a number of measles outbreaks in the US,
most notably are our neighbors of Minnesota, are currently
experiencing a measles outbreak. I think they have about 49 cases
with at least 11 of them having been hospitalized and the
majority of these cases are occurring in unvaccinated
children. So we do know that we've got pockets in our
communities and in our schools that have much lower rates and
could be ripe for, you know, an outbreak occurring if measles
were introduced. sitting in a house, you own your
home values remain high, and the 2024 increase, while slowed, is
still up more than 8.5%. Now that's not great news. If you're
in the market to buy a house. And how might it affect your
property tax bill come December? Here to unpack the numbers from
a recent report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum is its
director, Jason Stein. And thanks for being here. Thank you
for having me. So the headline of your report, Wisconsin
Property Tax Levies, see the biggest increase since 2007, but
that actually cuts the tax rate. So what does that mean we can
expect when we open our December tax bill. Right.
>> So the bills back in December of last year was a significant
increase. Now that's in the gross levy. So there are state
tax credits that lower that a little bit. But it's still a
very significant increase that we saw in December 2023. And I
think December 2024 bills are shaping up to be a big increase
as well, because if you look at the statewide level, there was a
large referendum that passed $250 million in the Milwaukee
public Schools in Milwaukee and then in Madison. We see two
significant school referenda up and in many, you know,
surrounding Dane County districts. So I think we're
going to see some significant increases in December.
>> So we were also talking about home values. Now, those
increases in home values have cooled, but they are still
historically high. >> Right? I think what we could
say is they're still rising rapidly. Home values, just maybe
not at ridiculous speeds as we saw in 2022. And 2023.
>> So I mean, that's good. As we said, if you're if you're
sitting in a house that you own, but what about people who are
trying to get into that market? >> I mean, I think that's
something to watch because, you know, there's already been a lot
of angst and worry for, you know, the younger generations as
they try and angle their way into that market, you know, we
are seeing we have seen uptick in construction of particularly
of multi-family housing, but to a lesser extent of single family
housing. So that will help. But, you know, we're still do not
seem to be meeting the demand with just the housing stock we
have and the construction projects in the pipeline as to
taxes on properties, property tax revenues don't seem to be
keeping pace for local governments and schools, some of
which, like Madison, that you spoke to find themselves with
deep budget holes in both the city and school coffers.
>> But how could a growing city like Madison be in that place?
>> When you look at cities, it does help under state law, if a
city is growing like Madison is, and adding new property value.
However this the property tax levy for the city of Madison and
any other city, it's limited by the increase in net new
construction and you know, the city, in other words, can have
hundreds of millions of dollars in new construction and what
that that adds is just a 1 or 2 or $3 million on the existing
levy. It's a relatively small amount, and so, you know, when
you look at a budget where they need to generate in a given
year, tens of millions of dollars to pay for the
inflationary costs, then that ends up translating into
something of a shortfall. Madison, in particular, hasn't
gotten a lot of state aid in recent years, you know, so
that's another factor for Madison. And then also, there's
inflation and local governments in some cases. And school
districts have promised wage increases that they know their
revenues are not sufficient to pay for. So that leaves them
with either cutting in other areas or going to referendum,
which is what many of them are doing.
hole kind of circumstance. But as to property taxes, you've
said that lawmakers over the decades obviously have tried to
implement ways to constrain property tax increases and you
feel like that might be coming up again?
>> Yes. I mean, I think particularly since 2011, in
Wisconsin, state officials, elected officials have taken
very many efforts to rein in local property taxes, and they
have been very successful. So, you know, the property tax
burden in the state has fallen. The state's overall tax burden
ranking nationally has fallen. But this approach, which is to
essentially put state mandates on the local government, that
they can't do those increases without a referendum and then,
you know, some state aid. But not in general, huge amounts.
Although there was some big increases last year, what that,
that approach, I think seems to be coming to an end or
faltering. And I think we still need to see. But I think the
December bills are probably going to demonstrate that. And
spark a conversation in 2025 at the state Capitol about, well,
what do we do about this? How do we respond?
with a new report on post-pandemic pandemic job
recovery in Wisconsin. What's the takeaway?
>> You know, what we're seeing is a pretty strong recovery from
the pandemic in which we've now made up for the job losses that
we had and employment levels overall statewide have reached
their highest levels. But at the same time, in more than half the
counties of the state, that is not the case. So in some of our
urbanized areas like Dane County and then some suburban Twin
Cities suburbs area in northwest Wisconsin, other Chicago suburbs
like Kenosha County doing well, but at a statewide level. Still
many places that have been left behind that have not caught up.
And in particular, one industry that really stands out is
manufacturing our signature industry in Wisconsin. Again
you're seeing some weakness there in terms of the jobs
numbers for manufacturing, food processing strong. But other
legacy industries like printing and paper making have just not
recovered and are areas of weakness.
that. Jason Stein, thanks very much. Thank you. The start of
the new school year is usually underscored by the distant
sounds of the marching band practice. When Mike Leckrone
retired from being UW band director, his successor knew he
had big shoes to fill. In this excerpt of the latest in focus
with Murv Seymour, he asks the current director, Corey Pompey,
about the job and the band's legacy, and 249 what two Greta
and I'd love to hear your perspective on what it feels
like to be standing on a ten foot ladder in front of all
those people, you know, controlling all that music.
>> What's that feeling like for you?
think about it. So Wiggins RFK, Jr. You know, I enjoy it, you
know? You know, when we perform for thousands and thousands of
people, it's an enjoyable experience. And I love it when I
feel like the band is kicking on all cylinders and so I'm very
proud of the students at that point.
>> I'm going to go back to something else, referencing
doctor McCrone. When he came on board, one of the things he said
he wanted to do was to create an Ed Sullivan type of show
experience in terms of how he created the music. Any thoughts
on what you're creating and what your legacy will be when we look
back? >> You know, interestingly
lot about legacy. I certainly hope that that when my time is
done here, that people will be proud of the work that has taken
place, that they will recognize the UW band as being the UW
band. But my hope is that we've done good work that people can
be proud of. >> How do you balance the
tradition with the Steil when it comes to playing the music?
>> As long as the traditions are honored, there is space to
introduce new things. Then there is latitude to be able to, do
some new things. I think that's the best way I can describe it.
Really. >> Thank you everybody.
>> For more on this and other issues facing Wisconsin, visit
our web site at PBS Wisconsin. Org and then click on the news
tab to see all of our election coverage. Visit Wisconsin
Vote.org. That's our program for tonight I'm Frederica Freyberg.
Have a good weekend.
>> Funding for "Here& Now" is provided by the Focus Fund for
Journalism and Friends of PBS.