Charles Franklin, Director of the Marquette Law School Poll described a boost in enthusiasm for voting – especially among Democrats — in the wake of Vice President Kamala Harris becoming that party’s candidate. Milwaukee County Supervisor Steve Taylor discussed the factors behind the county’s continuing budget trouble. Linda Hall of the Wisconsin Office of Children’s Mental Health talked about survey findings that show a crisis of anxiety and depression among school children.
 

Charles Franklin
Director, Marquette Law School Poll

• A sea change happened in the 2024 presidential race when President Joe Biden said he would not run for re-election and threw his support to Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now the Democratic nominee. Before that happened, former President Donald Trump was riding a wave of voter enthusiasm for his candidacy. In the Marquette Law School Poll released on Aug. 7, 61% of respondents overall said they were “very enthusiastic” to vote in November, up from 46% in June. Franklin described the significance of this shift.
• Franklin: “Yes, a 15-point increase in being enthusiastic. All year long, we’ve seen enthusiasm running between 15 and 20 points below where it was at the same time in the 2020 election cycle, and that had not budged from last November through June. But now this substantial 15 point rise in enthusiasm. … Not surprisingly, it’s Democrats who’ve had the biggest bump — up 22 points in enthusiasm. They had languished considerably, even in June before the debate. Republicans had also gone up by about seven points. And that represents, I think, the convention bounce for the nomination of Donald Trump, as well as perhaps some post assassination attempt effect. Biden’s dropping out, though — it really stepped on the post-convention bounce that you might have expected for the Republicans.”

Supervisor Steve Taylor
17th District, Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors

• Milwaukee County was applauding the first budget surplus in two decades in 2024, what with a new county sales tax increase and more money from the state. But now a nearly $20 million deficit is projected by the end of the year. Taylor described what’s behind the financial swing.
• Taylor: “It’s a combination of things. We have a big deficit in the sheriff’s budget in overtime. That’s over $7 million, and that number is not going to get smaller. We’ve not seen the projected sales tax revenue come in. I mean, people are not spending as much as we projected. So the sales tax projections – that revenue is lower. And then we’re looking at the future of health care costs — those are on the rise. Those are things that are difficult to control.”

Linda Hall
Director, Wisconsin Office of Children’s Mental Health

• The mental health struggles of the state’s young people continue as screen times go up and social supports go down, according the latest Wisconsin Youth Risk Behavior Survey, which was conducted in 2023 by the Department of Public Instruction. Hall said more resources are needed in schools aimed at mental health support, and described the situation.
• Hall: “We know from the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Survey that anxiety is up. Half of our kids are feeling anxious all the time. About a third are depressed on a daily basis. They’re feeling sad and hopeless every day for two weeks. About 25% of kids are seriously considering suicide. And if you start to look at subpopulations — marginalized groups — we see those numbers jump even higher. So unfortunately, these are trends that have been developing for more than a decade. We’d like to really see them turn around. But this is what we’re dealing with right now.”

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