Charles Franklin, long regarded as Wisconsin’s preeminent political pollster, described his 2025 workload as “the calm before the storm.” Franklin oversaw nine polls this year measuring state and national attitudes. Next year, with its midterm elections, there will be many more.

All will be carefully watched. Franklin’s Marquette University Law School Poll is regularly cited in state and national publications because of its reputation for accuracy and because narrowly divided Wisconsin is such a national bellwether.

Franklin has led the Marquette poll since it began in 2012. Before that he was a tenured political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

His latest national poll foreshadowed major problems for Republicans next year. President Trump’s approval rating amo

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