Past votes don’t necessarily predict future ones

Wisconsin voters can be hard to figure out. It is rarely clear how they are going to vote. Sure there are polls, and they offer some insight, but are no guarantee of the outcome. Just ask Hillary Clinton.  As voters, we can be fickle. We have a Democratic governor, but a Republican controlled Legislature. That has led to plenty of gridlock in Madison, with a legislative majority of republicans able to block any ideas Governor Evers has to move the state forward. But perhaps that is how voters like it, as the republican majority has grown after recent elections. The state has a conservative Senator in Ron Johnson, but also a liberal Senator in Tammy Baldwin, the U.S. Senate’s first openly gay member. Politically, they are polar opposites, but Wisconsin voters sent them both to Washington. Wisconsin’s choice for Governor has swung back and forth over the years, electing a Republican in four straight elections starting in 1986, before two terms for a Democrat, two terms for a Republican, and now a Democrat sits in that office. Perhaps voters are voting for the candidate, rather than the party. So what will happen in November in Wisconsin’s high profile races for U.S. Senate and Governor? If past history is any guide, it is anybody’s guess.