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america's watching on c-span. powered by cable. : we continue our focus on wisconsin as part of "washington journal"'s midterm battleground series. our rest is university of wisconsin madison lytic vassar -- political science professor larry burton. what is it about wisconsin that makes it a battleground state? and not just this cycle but at least since the year 2000 and maybe even before that. guest: i think that is what is stunning about wisconsin, it remains competitive even as the demographic in the state shifts. like many states, there is in flux and out flux, populations in different parts of the state but there is sort of a magical balance that, as democrats, they gain -- democrats makings in one place, republicans gain elsewhere and they seem to offset perfectly. an example in madison, there is a large democratic vote thing to

growing, booming part of the state, delivering a lot of votes to democrats but seems to be offset almost perfectly by the rise of republican votes in rural parts of the state and greater success republicans have had in growing suburbs around milwaukee area did it is sort of a tit for tat over the last 20 years and kept both parties competitive statewide in the elections. host: where is the battleground in the battleground state of wisconsin? guest: there are not a lot of places left where there are true battlegrounds with voters up for grabs and a lot of sway double voters that both parties are courting, especially with only a week until the election. parties have turned their attention to get out the vote efforts. there are communities where maybe split ticket voting or swing voting is a little more likely. there are two or three i would say bellwether counties, some of them in the middle of the stay, places like this county, an hour rth of madn south central wisconsin. small towns, rural communities,f

just the right hodgepodge of different identities and places that i think voters there are open to listening to listening to republican and democrat voters but a lot of counties are predicable in their voting and increasingly on one side or the other. that leaves fewer voters and that swing category. host: i will just read outnumbers from elections dating back to 2000, and i will let you fill in the details. the 2000 presidential election, democrats with 47.8% of the vote, republicans 47.6%. 2004, democrats 49.7 percent, republicans 49 3%. 2016, democrats with 46.5% of the vote, republicans 47.2%. we are talking about really close races here. guest: that's right. you could add to the mix the governor's election four years

ago with tony devers by just a point. the last presidential election when joe biden was victorious by about a point. what stands out in that history are the two obama elections in 2008-2012 where he wind by large margins, he won by double digits 2008. it seems hard to imagine any candidate doing that in wisconsin now, both sides have really dug in in ways that prevent either party from running up the score far. host: how did they do that? what has been the strategy in wisconsin? guest: i think during the 2000, particularly during the governorship of scott walker, there was increasing partisanship on both sides. republicans developed a very good get out the vote machine that relies on call centers, volunteers who go to republican offices and make phone calls to feller voters around the state. they claimed during some of the walker and ron johnson elections during the 2000s to have made

millions of calls in individual election cycles. democrats have relied more on face-to-face got to vote like canvassing door-to-door and they have a team of volunteers, they had tremendous success raising money over the last couple years under the executive director of the democratic already, ben winkler, and they have used that money for advertising and mailing and other things in addition to their door-to-door campaign. it is different strategies for each party but both have a sophisticated operation at this point. there's a lot of national money coming in, especially for the senate race, attracting a lot of national attention. both parties are going out to vote. host: what should viewers know about the demographics of wisconsin and whose votes in wisconsin? guest: it seems everyone votes. wisconsin has one of the highest voter turnout rates in the country, typically in the top five, top three in the ranking of states in terms of voter turnout rates. the demographics are it is largely a white state.

there are small, lack and hispanic relations each accounting for 6% or 7% of the population. hispanic votes noticeably lower rates but they end up making a bless of the voting pool. there are two larger cities, milwaukee being the largest, that is majority/minority city in the southeastward of the state. that is where a lot of the population cenr is in kenosha, racine, and suburbs around milwaukee. madison state capital, it is a growing city democratic city and a young co democrats tend to draw a lot of votes there, increasinglyo, but moving north and west of those communities, the population becomes sparser and sparser and some of the counties in the northern and west part of the state are only 10 to 20 to help people in the entire county but there are lots of those places so republicans in particular racked up large statewide totals by stitching

together a lot of small towns and villages in northern and western wisconsin. it is a mix of things, a purple statement there are not a lot of purple people or places, it is a precarious balance of different communities that together lead to an overall competitive state. host: if you want to talk wisconsin voting history, political patterns in wisconsin, that would be a great time to call. it is (202) 748-8000 free democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, independent, (202) 748-8002. larry byrne's political science professor at the university of wisconsin madison and it is elections research center he runs there, taking your calls this morning. we start in class fill wisconsin an independent -- independent, donald, you are on with the professor. caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: i'm 85 years old and i have been in business for most of my life, i'm in residential

rental property right now and i need that to supplement social security but i'm not worried about social security for myself. i think what ron is trying to do, ron johnson looking at him, he is trying to protect it for future generations here and i do not think he will take anything with him at the moment, that is the way i understand it. i understand social security [indiscernible] i think it will be insolvent by that time. i'm worried about future people but not myself. i'm leaning toward ron johnson at this point. host: professor burden, the social security is an issue in wisconsin and in past elections. guest: it is a bigger issue in this election than previous ones because ron johnson's statements on social security are being used by mandela barnes against

him. johnson got into politics because of his concern about fiscal issues back in 2010 as the chief party wave, he dumped -- jumped into electoral politics, someone that has never been on the scene in republican party or stay wide politics, concerned about the expense of obamacare, the size of the deficit and debt, and entitlements like social security any set over the years, including this year, he believes it ought to be a discretionary program, part of the annual budget process rather than something guaranteed or automatic. it is a little less clear what that means for current beneficiaries versus future ones which is john's question but i think were mandela barnes, it does not much matter really what the details are, he is focusing on the fact johnson is willing to put security on the chopping block or consider a different model. in midterm election, older voters turn out at high rates than younger voters, even in wisconsin where overall turnout is high.

it skews toward older voters social security is particularly relevant for those of retirement age or will be reaching it soon. i think barnes in particular will keep it up in these remaining days. host: in orlando, line for democrats, good morning. caller: good morning. hello? host: go ahead, orlando. what is your question or, for the professor. -- professor? caller: is it true that a lot of republicans are election deniers and some running for office now are also election deniers and a lot of republicans were in the insurrection and it came close to a coup area why should i vote for any republicans who still

believe election was illegal? why should i vote for them if they also support -- supported this coup that happened at the capitol? why should we vote for these people now? host: orlando in d.c.. professor burden, january 6, 2021 as an issue in november 2022. guest: it is an issue in the wisconsin senate race because of ron johnson's connection to the january 6 insurrection. as i think was mentioned during this cob our segment earlier, johnson was asked to deliver two slates affect -- pay collectors from wisconsin and michigan to vice president pence, he did not do that but it did become a subject of one of the january 6 committee hearings. it is part of barnes criticism of johnson. johnson also said he does not believe the january 6 events were true insurrection because he did not view them as violent. he said he was not concerned that day in the capitol, didn't really know was happening