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Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who describes himself as “outside (the RNC’s) establishment circle,” ranked first among four potential Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in a poll conducted by Public Policy Polling.

The poll, done June 5-6, 2023, surveyed 507 likely Republican primary voters in Wisconsin. No Republican candidate has yet entered the 2024 race against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin.

The poll asked:

“If the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate next year were Sheriff David Clarke, Mike Gallagher, Eric Hovde and Tom Tiffany, who would you vote for?”

Gallagher and Tiffany are congressmen; Hovde is a businessman.

The results:

Clarke: 40%

Not sure: 27%

Gallagher: 20%

Tiffany: 10%

Hovde: 3%

Gallagher announced June 9 he would not run for Senate. Tiffany has said he would decide on a run by August; Hovde has said he would decide by November.

North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling is among the nation’s leading polling organizations. It is “Democratically aligned,” according to Ballotpedia.

This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Public Policy Polling Wisconsin Survey Results | June 5-6, 2023 (Q15)

Axios GOP Rep. Gallagher passes on Wisconsin Senate bid

FiveThirtyEight Pollster Ratings | Public Policy Polling

WisPolitics Republicans favor Trump in new PPP poll

Ballotpedia Public Policy Polling

Did a Wisconsin Republican governor sign the nation’s first LGBTQ rights law?

Have COVID-19 vaccines contributed to as many as 3.9 million deaths?

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Did a leading poll indicate that an anti-establishment former sheriff is the most popular US Senate candidate among Wisconsin Republicans?

by Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch
June 13, 2023

<h1>Did a leading poll indicate that an anti-establishment former sheriff is the most popular US Senate candidate among Wisconsin Republicans?</h1>
<p class="byline">by Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch <br />June 13, 2023</p>

<div class="wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile" style="grid-template-columns:26% auto">
<figure class="wp-block-media-text__media"><img src="https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Wisconsin_Watch_fact_brief-782x409.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1278996 size-full" /></figure>
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<p><em><em><a href="https://www.wisconsinwatch.org/">Wisconsin Watch</a></em> partners with&nbsp;<a href="https://gigafact.org/">Gigafact</a>&nbsp;to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. <a href="https://wisconsinwatch.org/2023/05/how-wisconsin-watch-checks-claims-for-its-gigafact-fact-briefs/">Read our methodology</a> to learn how we check claims.</em></p>
</p></div>
</div>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Yes.</h2>
<p>Former Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke, who describes himself as "outside (the RNC's) establishment circle," ranked first among four potential Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in a poll conducted by Public Policy Polling.</p>
<p>The poll, done June 5-6, 2023, surveyed 507 likely Republican primary voters in Wisconsin. No Republican candidate has yet entered the 2024 race against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin.</p>
<p>The poll asked:</p>
<p>“If the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate next year were Sheriff David Clarke, Mike Gallagher, Eric Hovde and Tom Tiffany, who would you vote for?”</p>
<p>Gallagher and Tiffany are congressmen; Hovde is a businessman.</p>
<p>The results:</p>
<p>Clarke: 40%</p>
<p>Not sure: 27%</p>
<p>Gallagher: 20%</p>
<p>Tiffany: 10%</p>
<p>Hovde: 3%</p>
<p>Gallagher announced June 9 he would not run for Senate. Tiffany has said he would decide on a run by August; Hovde has said he would decide by November.</p>
<p>North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling is among the nation’s leading polling organizations. It is "Democratically aligned," according to Ballotpedia.</p>
<p><em>This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/SheriffClarke/status/1667174256831000580" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">this one</a>.</em></p>
<p><strong>Sources</strong></p>
<p>Public Policy Polling&nbsp;<a href="https://www.publicpolicypolling.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/WIGOPResults6823.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Wisconsin Survey Results | June 5-6, 2023 (Q15)</a></p>
<p>Axios&nbsp;<a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/06/09/mike-gallagher-wisconsin-senate-2024" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">GOP Rep. Gallagher passes on Wisconsin Senate bid</a></p>
<p>FiveThirtyEight&nbsp;<a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/pollster-ratings/public-policy-polling/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Pollster Ratings | Public Policy Polling</a></p>
<p>WisPolitics&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wispolitics.com/2023/republicans-favor-trump-in-new-ppp-poll" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Republicans favor Trump in new PPP poll</a></p>
<p>Ballotpedia&nbsp;<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Public_Policy_Polling" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Public Policy Polling</a></p>
<p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://wisconsinwatch.org/2023/06/did-a-leading-poll-indicate-that-an-anti-establishment-former-sheriff-is-the-most-popular-us-senate-candidate-among-wisconsin-republicans/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://wisconsinwatch.org&quot;&gt;Wisconsin Watch&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cropped-WCIJ_IconOnly_FullColor_RGB-1.png?fit=150%2C150&amp;amp;quality=100&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p>
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Did a leading poll indicate that an anti-establishment former sheriff is the most popular US Senate candidate among Wisconsin Republicans?

Yes.

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Have COVID-19 vaccines contributed to as many as 3.9 million deaths?

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