Adapted from an article by Craig Gilbert published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Aug 20, 2025

Wisconsin Democrats represent a party whose makeup has changed in informative ways over the past decade. Years of extensive polling by the Marquette Law School reveals some interesting dynamics.

What does the Wisconsin Democratic party look like currently?

Some of the groups that make up a bigger share of this state’s Democratic voters than they did before 2016  include:

• • Women 
  • Secular voters 
  • Liberals 
  • Suburbanites
  • White college grads

Some of the groups that make up a smaller share of the party:

• • Men
  • Rural voters 
  • Frequent churchgoers 
  • People without a four-year college degree 
  • Conservatives

What are the demographics of Wisconsin’s registered voters?

• • Democrats = 29%; Republicans = 30%; independents = 40%
  • Nationally, Democrats = 32%; Republicans = 31% ; independents = 36%

How does the Democratic coalition in Wisconsin look different than nationally?

• • Whites = 83%; nationally = 50%
  • Blacks = 8%; nationally = 23%
  • Hispanics = 4%; nationally = 18%
  • Whites without a college degree = 45%; nationally = 26% 
  • Women = 65%; nationally = 57%
  • Born-again Protestants = 9%; nationally = 15%
  • Self-described liberals = 62%; nationally = 57%
  • Subset of “very liberal” = 21%; nationally = 23%

How the Wisconsin Democratic Party has changed over the past decade?

• • GENDER: Women are 65% of Democrats today, up from 62%.
  • RACE AND EDUCATION: White college grads are 38% vs. 31%. Non-college whites are 45% vs. 47%. Black voters are 8% vs. 11%. (Fewer than 1% of Republican voters in Wisconsin are Black). The share of Democrats who are Hispanic hasn’t meaningfully changed at 4%. 
  • RELIGION: Born again Protestants have decreased from 15% to 9%. Mainline Protestants have decreased from 29% to 26%. Roman Catholics have decreased from 28% to 24%.  Secular, non-religious voters have risen from 17% to 33%.  Non-churchgoers have grown from 17% to 36%.  (Non-churchgoers represent 12% of Wisconsin Republicans.)
  • IDEOLOGY: Democrats in Wisconsin have moved to the left in how they identify themselves, just as Republicans have moved to the right. People who call themselves “very liberal” are 21%, up from 13%. People who call themselves simply “liberal” have grown from 33% to 42%. 
  • GEOGRAPHY: Urban voters make up the same share of Democrats in the
  • state today as before (39%). But the share of Democrats from the suburbs is up from 25% to 31% and the share from rural areas has decreased from 37% to 30%.

How have presidential voting patterns changed over the last 20 years?

• • The share from rural towns dropped from 28% to 23%. 
  • The share from very blue and fast-growing Dane County climbed from 11% to 16%. 
  • The share from the suburban and historically Republican “WOW counties” outside Milwaukee increased from just under 8% to just under 10%.
  • The share of Democratic votes from Milwaukee County is roughly unchanged at around 20%.
  • The share from outside the Milwaukee and Madison media markets is down from 40% to 36%. 

To summarize:

• White working-class voters remain a much bigger part of the Democratic coalition in Wisconsin than they do nationally, but not as big a part as they used to. 
• Rural voters remain an important part of the Democratic vote, but not as big a part as they used to.
• This is a more secular and liberal party than it was a decade ago, with a more disproportionate share of women, and with growing shares of college-educated and suburban voters. 

The November election will help tell us how powerful these trend lines continue to be, and whether replacing President Joe Biden with Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s nominee against Donald Trump will have a discernible impact on the makeup of the Democratic vote in Wisconsin. 

Craig Gilbert provides Wisconsin political analysis as a fellow with Marquette University Law School’s Lubar Center for Public Policy Research and Civic Education. Prior to the fellowship, Gilbert reported on politics for 35 years at the Journal Sentinel, the last 25 in its Washington Bureau. 

The following Volunteers participated in producing this article:

• Gale Whitson-Schmidt condensed the original article
• Rebecca Carlton did the proofreading
• Ron Maclean provided the graphs