Election 2012: Obama & Baldwin Up in Wisconsin

Senate candidate Tammy Baldwin

From CNN:

A new poll of Wisconsin likely voters released Wednesday afternoon shows President Barack Obama with a double digit lead over Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney there. It stands in contrast to other national and state polls released Tuesday and Wednesday which have shown a close race, some giving Obama a slight advantage over Romney. 

The Marquette Law School Poll put Obama 14 percentage points ahead of Romney among likely voters in the Badger State. It also shows a significant change in the Wisconsin race for a U.S. Senate seat.

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A separate poll of likely Wisconsin voters released earlier on Wednesday also showed Obama with an edge, but significantly less of one. His six point advantage over Romney (51% to 45%) in the New York Times/CBS News/Quinnipiac survey was outside of the poll's sampling error but far less than was indicated in the Marquette poll. 

The Marquette poll showed Obama gaining five points and Romney losing six, as the two candidates were separated by three points in an August iteration of this survey. 

Romney's running mate is Rep. Paul Ryan, a seven-term congressman from the state. In mid-August, the state was moved from leaning in Obama's favor to a toss-up between Obama and Romney on the CNN Electoral Map. 

The poll also showed a significant shift in the U.S. Senate race between Rep. Tammy Baldwin and former Gov. Tommy Thompson. It shows Baldwin with a nine point lead over Thompson, 50% to 41% - a reversal of the two candidates' standings in the August survey. In that poll, Thompson was at 50% and Baldwin at 41%.