Dem Pollster Raises Possibility of Walker Recall
Voters can't attempt to recall Gov. Scott Walker until he's served for at least a year, but a Democratic polling firm says there's enough support right now for a recall petition to succeed.
34 percent of Wisconsin voters would sign a petition to recall Walker, according to a survey of 806 voters by Strategic Telemetry, the Democratic polling and microtargeting firm run by Wisconsin native Ken Strasma.
One big caveat: Strasma is a Democratic strategist who has done microtargeting for the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and John Kerry. While he told me he conducted this poll on his on initiative (not at the behest of a Democratic client), it's worth keeping in mind that the poll appears designed for news value.
In order to recall Walker, his opponents would need to garner a number of petitions equal to 25 percent of the 2010 electorate. (See Wisconsin recall guidelines here.) At that point, Walker wouldn't be removed; he'd simply have to run for the governorship again. No Wisconsin official is eligible for recall until they've served for one year (Walker was sworn into office last month), so, while his critics are calling for a recall, it can't happen until January 2012).
Presumably, the budget fight will be long over by then, and momentum for a Walker recall will have died down.
Find the survey report below: