Milwaukee Tool to add another 1,000 jobs and Ron Johnson's uphill battle

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·4 min read
2

Fast-growing Milwaukee Tool is adding 1,000 state jobs in the next three years as it ramps up technologies used by workers in skilled trades.

  • The 98-year-old manufacturer, one of the state's fastest-growing employers, said many of the new positions will be in technical roles in Menomonee Falls, Brookfield, Milwaukee, Mukwonago, Sun Prairie and West Bend.

  • The hiring, which is in addition to previous job announcements, has started and will run through 2025. It's part of a $206 million investment by the company and is supported by up to $22.5 million in Enterprise Zone tax credits, according to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.

  • The Brookfield-based company has around 10,000 employees in the United States including more than 3,600 in Wisconsin. Early in 2021, it announced plans to bring around 2,000 jobs to its new office in downtown Milwaukee. In January 2020 it opened a 116,300-square-foot building at the headquarters on West Lisbon Road in Brookfield.

Craig Gilbert: Ron Johnson needs to maximize his base, and draw in some anti-Trump Republicans, to win reelection

  • Craig takes a detailed look at the uphill battle Sen. Johnson has for re-election this fall. It's not impossible at all, given all that's playing out in his favor: incumbency, an enthusiastic GOP base and the political tailwinds of running in a midterm election against the party of the president. Given the history of midterms and President Biden’s negative job ratings, 2022 is expected to be a good year for Republicans. For all these reasons, some nonpartisan analysts think Johnson has a better than even chance of getting reelected.

  • But his numbers right now are not good at all. Compared with his peak in popularity in the pre-pandemic year of 2019 — when his average favorability rating was plus 10 compared to the - 9 now — the downturn is notable. “There’s such a striking decline, and it’s a decline that has been sustained through 2020, 2021 and now into 2022. So, it’s not a short-term fluctuation, but a strong trend,” said pollster Charles Franklin, who provided the data used here. Franklin is professor of law and public policy at Marquette Law School, and director of the Marquette Law School Poll.

  • Johnson’s rating has risen from plus 50 six years ago to plus 57 with Republicans; from plus 33 to plus 46 with self-identified conservatives; from plus 15 to plus 26 with born-again Protestants; and from plus 2 to plus 9 with white non-college men. At the same time, Johnson has grown that much more unpopular among groups that tilt Democratic, tilt to the left and were already negative toward him. Since 2015-16, Johnson’s popularity rating has gone from minus 50 to minus 73 with Democrats; from minus 54 to minus 76 with liberals; from minus 31 to minus 45 with nonreligious voters; and from minus 19 to minus 32 with urban voters.

  • Comparing Johnson’s average net rating in 2019 with his average in the four most recent Marquette polls, Johnson has gone from: Plus 6 to minus 16 among women; Plus 18 to minus 20 among voters 70 and older (the sharpest decline among any group we looked at); Plus 5 to minus 28 among moderates (the second sharpest decline); Plus 18 to minus 5 among voters in denser, metropolitan suburbs.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Tool to add another 1,000 jobs, Ron Johnson's uphill battle