Rep. Paul Ryan's ascendance to the Republican ticket as Mitt Romney's running mate has provided no significant home-state bump for the GOP team, according to a new poll of Wisconsin released on Wednesday.
The poll, conducted by Marquette Law School, shows President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden leading Romney-Ryan, 49 percent to 46 percent — a virtual tie given the poll's margin of error. One percent of likely voters prefer another candidate, and 4 percent are undecided.
Two weeks ago, before the Ryan selection, Obama led Romney in a head-to-head matchup of the two presidential candidates, 50 percent to 45 percent. The results of the new poll, which tested the two respective tickets, are not statistically different from the prior survey.
Ryan is relatively popular in his home state: 41 percent of all Wisconsin voters have a favorable impression of Ryan, while 34 percent view him unfavorably. About a quarter of voters say they haven't heard enough about him to form an opinion or are undecided. Asked about his selection as Romney's running mate, 31 percent say Romney's choice was "excellent," while 27 percent describe it as "pretty good." Just 19 percent say Ryan was a "poor" choice.
But the name at the top of the GOP ticket is less popular. Just 35 percent of voters say they have a favorable opinion of Romney, compared to 45 percent who have an unfavorable opinion.
Obama remains popular in the state, sporting a favorable rating of 52 percent, versus 43 percent unfavorable. Asked about his job performance, 48 percent of voters approve, and 45 percent disapprove.
The poll was conducted Aug. 16-19, surveying 706 registered voters. The margin of error for the full poll is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points. For the subsample of 576 likely voters, the margin of error is plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
The poll is just the second public, live-caller survey taken in Wisconsin since Romney named Ryan to be his running mate; a CNN/ORC International poll conducted just after Ryan rollout showed Obama with a slim, 4-point lead. A new Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll in the Badger State is slated to be released early Thursday.
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