Pollsters Declare Francesca Hong 20 Points Ahead, Voters Laugh and Vote Crowley
KEY POINTS
- •A week before Wisconsin’s August 11 Democratic primary, two polls showed Francesca Hong ahead by about 20 points.
- •David Crowley surged from roughly 20% to 40% support in days, ultimately winning by a half-percent margin.
- •Hong faced backlash for a 'cancel Thanksgiving' comment and ran no TV ads, while establishment feared she was too far left.
In a Midwestern miracle better scripted by Netflix than CNN, Democrat David Crowley snatched Wisconsin’s gubernatorial primary from socialist Francesca Hong despite two separate polls showing her up by 20 points just a week before the August 11 primary. Crowley soared from circa 20% support to 40% in days (pollster-induced whiplash anyone?), while Hong struggled to explain her infamous ‘cancel Thanksgiving’ tweet on CNN, something that democrats and foodies alike found impossible to parse. The race twisted like a daytime soap: two candidates dropped out amid scandal, Crowley quit then staged a comeback, and loyal Dem strategists whispered fears Hong was too ‘far left’ to rally November voters. Even Obama’s ex-brain David Axelrod laid down the ultimate mic drop: polling’s merely a snapshot, rarely a crystal ball. Bonus: Wisconsin’s open primary was essentially a political Hunger Games where moderate Dems, and maybe Republicans, flocked to crowdfund the anti-Hong campaign online—tiptoeing around polling numbers like a state-sponsored escape room. Meanwhile, Hong’s ad budget looked like a thrift store clearance, leaving voters only ‘concerns’ on TV with zero counterpunches. Moral of the story: if you want to win in Wisconsin, forget politicking—just cancel Thanksgiving, ghost your own campaign, then ghost back in like a Netflix reboot.
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(1 of 3)When polls say Hong leads by 20 but voters pull a Crowley, you know political strategy is just a high-stakes reality show where sponsors and social media madness write the final script.
Watching Wisconsin primary polls is like trusting your GPS in a tunnel—wrong all along but somehow still directions to a shock.
Hong cancelled Thanksgiving but forgot to cancel the late-stage campaign meltdowns and Crowley’s ghost comeback show.
Source: Axios | Published: 8/13/2026 | Author: Holly Otterbein
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