RIPON (NBC 26) — One professor says Judge Susan Crawford's Supreme Court win could be seen as a "referendum" on the Trump administration. Another says he doesn't see it that way.
- Hear from a Ripon College political science professor and the director of the Marquette Law School Poll
- Judge Susan Crawford defeated Judge Brad Schimel in the April 1 race for state Supreme Court
- Marquette Law School Poll Director Charles Franklin says endorsements for both candidates by a sitting and former president hadn't been seen before
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story.)
The high-stakes April 1 election saw massive voter turnout in our state. I'm Pari Apostolakos in Ripon, speaking with political experts to get their reaction now that Susan Crawford has won the Supreme Court seat and voter ID requirements will be cemented in the state's constitution.
Watch Pari Apostolakos' full broadcast story below:
"What we saw yesterday was in fact unprecedented," Ripon College Political Science Professor Henrik Schatzinger said. He told me more than half of the eligible voters cast a ballot Tuesday, and that's not typical for a spring election in Wisconsin.
"Before the election I was already a little cautious that money would sort of buy the outcome," Schatzinger said. "However, it didn't translate into a win, obviously, and Wisconsinites were very clear."
Judge Susan Crawford defeated Judge Brad Schimel for a seat on the state Supreme Court. Schatzinger says, despite Trump's endorsement of Schimel and billionaire Elon Musk's spending in support of him, Crawford's win could be seen as a referendum on the Trump administration's actions so far, like implementing tariffs and downsizing staff at government agencies.
But, Marquette Law School Poll Director Charles Franklin doesn't entirely agree.
"The liberal candidate won two years ago by 11 points and the liberal candidate won yesterday by 10 points," Franklin said. "The fact that the overall margin only shifted from an 11-point to a 10-point margin doesn't suggest to me that it radically shifted which side had the majority."
Now that the court will continue skewing liberal until at least 2028, Franklin says that could change which cases are brought before them.
"Maybe we'll see more cases coming from the liberal side," Franklin said. "Whereas, when conservatives had the majority, we seemed to have seen a lot more conservative cases coming to the court trying to win for that side."
Franklin says that, based on the polling data, he's not surprised that Wisconsinites also chose to make the state's photo ID law for voters part of the constitution. He says only about 6% of adults in Wisconsin lack a photo ID from the DMV. But, people could have other photo IDs from places like a tribe or school.
"Places with a lot of younger people or a lot of impoverished people are the places where more people lack an ID, and so I think that is a legitimate concern from the opponents of the ID law," Franklin said.
Franklin says we will be able to see more clearly how voters feel about the Trump administration in the upcoming fall elections and the 2026 midterms.
