Wispol: UW favorability ratings

There's been a lot of talk about how the good people of Wisconsin view our state's flagship institution of higher education. Moments ago, I got forwarded some results of a new WisPol poll, done by Charles Franklin and Ken Goldstein. It's part of the same poll that has been widely reported nationally for the numbers on the presidential race. Here's the key question and the responses:

Do you have a favorable or unfavorable impression of the University of Wisconsin-Madison? IF FAVORABLE/ UNFAVORABLE, ASK: Would that be a STRONGLY or just a SOMEWHAT (FAVORABLE/UNFAVORABLE) impression?

• Strongly favorable 54%
• Somewhat favorable 27%
• Somewhat unfavorable 6%
• Strongly unfavorable 3%
• Don't know / Refused 10%

The detailed numbers show that support for UW–Madison is high across all the demographic groups they tabulated for. Even Republicans came in with 72% favorable. That number should be far higher, and we need to work to build it, but it's worth noting that we still have a lot of support out there.

Remember this the next time you are tempted to assume that everybody not employed by the University wants to close it and imprison the faculty. That's pretty much only Steve Nass, who remains not a bellwether but "an embarrassment to Wisconsin".