Wisconsin Voters Really Didn’t Like The Recall

There is plenty that can be said about what happened last night in Wisconsin ranging from what it means for the labor movement to what it means for the Presidential race and beyond. Perhaps the biggest lesson that Badger State voters sent last night, though, is that they didn’t like the idea of using the Recall process for political vendettas at all:

(CBS News) Sixty percent of Wisconsin voters in today’s recall election say recall elections are only appropriate for official misconduct, according to early CBS News exit polls. Twenty-eight percent said they think they are suitable for any reason, while nine percent think they are never appropriate.

I’ve written about the problems with recall elections more than once over the past several weeks (see here and here), and it’s good to see that the voters of Wisconsin are smarter about this than the professional activists and the politicians. Limiting recalls to cases of official misconduct only would be a good first step toward putting this genie back in the bottle. Personally, though, I’d be happy to see them eliminated entirely.

 

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, US Politics, , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Eric Florack says:

    Should we point out, I wonder, that these are the same polling groups that under-estimated Walker’s victory by 7-10pts?