(The Center Square) – The same poll that showed Wisconsin voters voted against President Donald Trump and Elpn Musk in the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court election, also showed those same voters no appetite for large spending increases.
The Institute for Reforming Government’s poll also asked voters about Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal, including a proposed 20% spending increase.
“When asked about spending and what the state should do, even this electorate was in agreement that the state should not increase spending dramatically. That state spending should be controlled,” IRG’s Chris Reader said. “And even a big chunk said we should cut spending.”
The poll stated that 70% of voters want to limit state spending to the rate of inflation. Another 65% want to cut state spendings.
The IRG poll also said 59% of voters would like to freeze state spending where it is, while 38% want to see the state spend more.
“So, even an electorate that is out to get Elon Musk, out to get President Trump, and out to support abortion, when you bring it back to a pocketbook issue they’re still kind of conservative,” Reader added.
Specifically, the poll showed that 24% of voters strongly favor, and 46% Somewhat favor limiting spending.
Just 5% of voters strongly oppose limits on spending, according to the poll.
Similarly, 20% of voters say they strongly favor freezing state spending, while 39% somewhat favor. The poll added that 10% strongly oppose a spending freeze.
Finally, the pollsters asked about how to control Wisconsin’s state budget. The poll showed that 81% of voters think cutting wasteful spending is the best strategy, compared to 14% who think the state needs to raise taxes.
This survey of 800 registered voters was conducted online by Scott Rasmussen on April 8-14, 2025. The margin of sampling error for the full sample is +/- 3.5 percentage points.
