Here & Now

A New Way to Poll the Democratic Primary for Governor?

Frederica Freyberg:

Tonight’s inside look, the big, big field of ten democratic candidates running for governor and the efforts to cull the numbers. Efforts not without controversy. This week, the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association cancelled a planned statewide debate amongst just four of the candidates. The WBA was set to use polling and campaign cash to determine who got a seat at the table. The plan was criticized by many, including the pollster whose survey the association intended to use. But enter something called Wisconsins Choice. An effort by two progressive groups to whittle the field of dem candidates. How are they doing it? We turn to the director of one of those groups, Marina Dimitrijevic, with the Wisconsin Working Families party. Thanks for being here.

Marina Dimitrijevic:

Happy to be here.

Frederica Freyberg:

So what is your method?

Marina Dimitrijevic:

So ours is more people-powered. It’s actually the exact opposite of using campaign cash, which has been used in the past, to have the primary candidate decided. We want it to be people-powered. So our Wisconsin Revolution, Working Families Party, came together months ago, hosted forums, 50 house parties across the state. And just this week nearly 4,000 people voted. Everyone can vote in the state of Wisconsin. So it’s a much more transparent process that includes everyone. We will be choosing the final four very soon.

Frederica Freyberg:

And you have these house parties and then you also kind of tried to educate voters about the candidates. How does that work?

Marina Dimitrijevic:

Yes. This is a really unique moment in Wisconsin. And some people have said well Im just going to wait and sit back and see who wins the primary and all these democrats seem the same. We challenge that. There’s major differences in issues. We’ve had nearly ten forums, hundreds of people across the state that have been to those forums. On our website, WeChoose.org, there’s issue-specific videos, people speaking and then the candidates responding. And the house parties were great. We averaged 50 people for a house party. I hosted one. Taking that conversation that we’ve all had informally and having it in the backyard or at a kitchen table.

Frederica Freyberg:

I went on your website and there was a place to punch in the zip code to see about nearby house parties. In the Dane County zip code that I put in, the closest one was Walworth County.

Marina Dimitrijevic:

I believe there was one in Portage, but yeah, they were all nearby. There was more in Milwaukee due to population density. But there was a huge one the other night in Sheboygan that had nearly 60 people.

Frederica Freyberg:

You have done this all along and one of your straw polls already culled the numbers. Is that right?

Marina Dimitrijevic:

Correct. So it’s a three point process. And look, there’s no perfect process here. This is a unique experience. And I think we should celebrate the fact that we have a lot of options so it’s exciting. The first round of voting took the candidates down to nine. And now the second round is nine to four. And in mid-July, we’re looking for the people’s champion. And if someone obtains from the four 50% plus one, they’ll be the people’s champion.

Frederica Freyberg:

Which candidates were eliminated according to your straw polling in the first round?

Marina Dimitrijevic:

The first round, I believe it was Ramona Whiteaker and Jeffrey Rumbaugh. So we went from 12 or 13, because people were still filing, down to nine. Also thousands of people voted in that. So now we’re going from nine to four and then four to one.

Frederica Freyberg:

What is the reaction on the part of the candidates to this?

Marina Dimitrijevic:

Well I think that they feel that it’s a more fair, transparent process. Something exciting in this round two vote, candidates paid for Facebook ads asking for folks to vote in our poll. They send emails out. It’s been very candidate-driven as well. They want to be the people’s champion.

Frederica Freyberg:

So the polling in this second round ended Thursday night at 10:00 p.m. when are results coming out?

Marina Dimitrijevic:

Results will be out Monday morning. Monday morning we’ll have the official results.

Frederica Freyberg:

And just briefly, why do you want to narrow this field to this extent?

Marina Dimitrijevic:

We want to push on the issues. For too long, it has been financially-based. That the person that can raise the most money generally has won the primary. We have proof that hasn’t been successful for democrats. We want to have that really much-needed discussion of the issues. You take any issue: wages, education, immigrant rights. There’s a spectrum of ten different points on that. We want to have that powerful conversation because that’s the way to beat Scott Walker.

Frederica Freyberg:

And if your final vote comes up with that super candidate, that’s ahead of the primary.

Marina Dimitrijevic:

Right. It is. And what that endorsement comes with is thousands of people-powered hours. Because here’s the kicker. In the final round, we’re asking folks prior to vote to commit to ten hours for their candidate of choice. So it will be a bank of thousands of hours to put that person over the edge.

Frederica Freyberg:

Interesting. We’ll be looking for the results on Monday. Thanks very much.

Marina Dimitrijevic:

Thank you.