(The Center Square) – New polling from Maquette University on a number of state budget issues showed Wisconsin residents have strong support for special education funding, university funding and tax cuts.

However, a majority of registered voters disapprove of the Republican-controlled State Legislature’s job performance, Gov. Tony Evers’ partial veto power and do not think Evers should seek a third term as governor in 2026.

The poll by Marquette University Law School was conducted between June 13-19 and interviewed 873 Wisconsin registered voters, with a margin of error of +/-4.7 percentage points.

To cover more subjects, a number of items were asked of random half-samples of 436 or 437 registered voters, with a margin of error of +/-6.6 percentage points.

According to the poll, 71% of Wisconsinites favor “a major increase” in state aid for special education for public schools, while 29% oppose.

Republicans have the closest party split for increasing special ed funding, with 52% of Republican voters favoring an increase and 48% opposing.

In contrast, 91% of Democrats and 69% of independent voters would support a major increase.

Assembly Speaker Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, previously said legislators working on the budget would “love to make a historic investment in special ed funding” but that “we just have to make sure they can get all the way through both chambers to Gov. Evers before it can get signed into law,” as reported by The Center Square.

Overall, 65% of Wisconsin voters think half or more of the roughly $4 billion state budget surplus should go to tax cuts.

Of those who favor, 82% and 70% of Independents think at least half of the surplus should be used for a tax cut, with only 46% of Democrats agreeing.

The majority of Democrats (55%) would prefer less than half of the surplus to be used for tax cuts, with 28% responding that only one-quarter of the surplus should be used for a tax cut and 27% saying none of it should be used towards a tax cut at all.

A majority of respondents (57%) said they would prioritize reduced property taxes while 43% said they would prioritize K-12 public school spending increases.

However, the majority opinion flipped when the question was framed around the K-12 schools in a voter’s own community.

“While concern for property taxes has increased, a slight majority, 52%, say they would be inclined to vote for a referendum to increase taxes for schools in their community, while 46% say they would vote against a referendum,” the poll found.

Also, 49% of registered voters said funding for the Universities of Wisconsin system should be kept the same in the budget, while 27% say the funding should be increased and 23% say it should be reduced.

The UW system received $2.47 billion in general-purpose state aid in the last budget, according to MacIver Institute.

The responses were divided primarily along partisan lines.

“A large majority of Republicans, 86%, [say] universities must adjust to current funding, as do 59% of independents. In contrast, 71% of Democrats say the state should increase support for universities,” the poll found.

As for the State Legislature and Evers, 50% of respondents disapprove of the Republican-controlled legislature, while only 41% approve and 10% responded “don’t know.”

Republicans are almost split down the middle on legislature approval, with only 51% approving of the legislature, while most Democrats, 58%, disapprove.

And, 48% of Independents disapprove of the legislature, while only 29% approve.

However, a majority of Wisconsinites also disapprove of Evers’ partial veto power, with 54% of respondents who say the partial veto gives the governor too much power, while 32% say it’s an appropriate power and 14% say they don’t know.

While 83% of Republicans say Evers’ partial veto is too much power, with 55% of Independents concurring, 61% of Democrats say it is an appropriate power.

However, MLS Poll Director Charles Franklin said, because of the partisan divide, it would be an “interesting question, if party control of the governship flips, whether partisans would change their minds on this.”

Overall, 42% of voters would want Evers to seek a third term as governor in 2026, while 55% do not want him to run again.

While 83% of Democrats would support a third term bid by Evers, 93% of Republicans and 50% of Independents would oppose such a bid.

Evers has not made a formal announcement as to whether he will or won’t seek a third term as governor next year.