Wisconsin Public Opinion Study

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Overview

This project is funded through the UW-Madison Wisconsin Idea Project through an Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment Grant. It serves three purposes:

1. Helps set the agenda for the UW Survey Center Badger Poll

2. Collects information about Wisconsinites' views of UW-Madison

3. Investigates the psychological connections between people and their government

Methodology

Starting in May 2007, I have been traveling to 23 communities sampled throughout the state to listen to conversations among groups of people who meet on a regular basis. These are not focus groups. These are groups of people who get together in gas stations, local diners, restaurants, cafes, and in their houses of worship. My intent is to listen to their concerns as they talk about them in their own terms, on their own turf.

Read more details about the methods here

Views of UW-Madison

View a 30-minute presentation of the results here

View a slideshow of the results here

Working papers on connections to government

“Get Government Out of It: Heterogeneity of Government Skepticism and its Connection to Economic Interests and Policy Preferences.” Paper prepared for presentation to the Conference on Homogeneity and Heterogeneity in Public Opinion, Cornell University, October 3-5, 2008.

"Rural Republicans? Conservative Democrats? Listening to the Content of Partisanship." Paper prepared for presentation to the Midwest Political Science Annual Meeting, Chicago, April 2-5, 2009.

This project in the news

Wisconsin State Journal's Doug Moe column

Wisconsin Public Radio's Joy Cardin Show (page down to 2/6/2009 6:00am)