Senator Ron Johnson and Russ Feingold met Tuesday night in their second debate. The face-off focused largely on issues and policy.
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Republican Ron Johnson talked about his years of creating jobs in the private sector and Democrat Russ Feingold talked about his record protecting workers - that led to a heated exchange on raising the minimum wage.
Feingold backs a $15 federal minimum wage, Johnson opposes it.
Feingold: All I said was you won't raise the minimum wage one nickel.
Johnson: I just said I would be willing to do it on an indexing basis. I'm just not willing to go to $15 an hour, which will cost the American economy six to seven million jobs.
Feingold: You have voted consistently against raising it, that's his record, that's the fact.
The October Marquette Law School poll asked likely voters their opinion of Johnson and Feingold. For Johnson, 43% said favorable, 37% unfavorable,18% said they haven't heard enough.
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Feingold's favorable was 45%, unfavorable 40%, and 13% said they haven't heard enough.
Another big issue was trade. The candidates were asked about the Trans Pacific Partnership - better known as TPP. It's a proposed trade agreement with 12 countries like Australia, Mexico and Japan. Feingold opposes it. Johnson says he waiting to learn more before making a final decision.
Russ: Without a doubt I could see this was the same kind of thing, a deal that says to our companies here in the United States, why don't you move somewhere else where there is lower wages, you don't have to pay workers a fair price, you don't have to follow environmental regulations and Sen. Johnson has refused to even tell his position on it.
Ron: Yeah, I'm not going to make a snap judgment based on a sixty page Wikileak version of this. Think how incredibly closed minded he is that again, he doesn't understand private sector. He doesn't understand how important overseas markets, being able to export our agricultural and manufacturing products from Wisconsin.
The October Marquette Poll also asked likely voters if "honest" describes the senate candidates. 52% said yes for Feingold - 49% for Johnson.
