CBS is releasing early exit poll results from Wisconsin showing voters favoring President Obama over Mitt Romney 51-45, a split not terribly far from Obama’s margin over John McCain in 2008, 56-42.
In the poll, recall voters were surprisingly unenthusiastic about the recall process. Sixty percent said recalls were only suitable for “official misconduct,” and only 28 percent said they should be used for “any reason.”
Some 45 percent of people who voted for Barrett said their vote for him was more of a vote against Walker than in favor of the Milwaukee mayor; 53 percent said it was truly intended as an endorsement of him.
The poll also surveyed approval ratings for the state Democratic and Republican parties, and each came in at 47 percent, suggesting this might be a close race after all.
More here. CBS is withholding all poll data until results are released tonight. So there’s no further indication (except for what is covered above) of whether Walker or Barrett is in the lead.
UPDATE 8:33 p.m.: Early results from a variety of exit polls are showing a very close race between Walker and Barrett, the Associated Press, Reuters, and the Journal Sentinel have just reported.
UPDATE 9:38 p.m.: And … the big TV and news service people that decide these kinds of things are saying that Walker wins.
