At different events, Bernie Sanders and Ron Johnson set out to sway skeptical Wisconsin voters

MOUNT PLEASANT, Wis. (CBS 58) -- When Sen. Bernie Sanders walked out to the stage outside a United Auto Workers office in Racine County Wednesday evening, it felt similar to some of his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaign rallies.

The crowd was significantly smaller, but the Vermont senator was met with enthusiasm from a gathering of passionate supporters. However, this four-day, six-stop jaunt across Wisconsin is aimed at convincing voters to vote not for Sanders, but rather, President Joe Biden and Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).

A new Marquette Law School poll released Wednesday found registered Wisconsin voters evenly divided, 50%-50%, when asked to choose between President Biden and the Republican nominee, Donald Trump. Baldwin led Republican challenger Eric Hovde 52% to 47%.

While Sanders' release advertising the Wisconsin visit made no mention of Baldwin or the president, Sanders emphatically said in an interview he was in Wisconsin to boost the top of the Democratic ticket.

Others at the rally did not feel the same way. A pair of demonstrators stood near the entrance holding a handwritten banner calling for Sanders to become the Democratic nominee for president.

Jim Carpenter, a Milwaukee man who said he voted for Mr. Biden in 2020, said he could no longer support the president over his handling of Israel's war with Hamas.

"Me, personally, I will not vote for [Biden]. Even though I did last time, I will not vote for him," Carpenter said. "Because there's a red line he crossed when Israel started murdering children, starving children, maiming children, and he continued to support Israel, he crossed a red line."

Sanders said he also disagrees with the Biden administration's handling of the war in Gaza, but he maintained the issue should not be enough to swing progressive voters' actions.

"Thousands of children face starvation [in Gaza]. The United States government should not be paying, providing aid to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, to do all of that," Sanders said. "Having said of that, even on that issue, Trump is worse. So, what I would say to those people is that in the real world, you gotta look at a whole lot of issues, and Gaza is certainly a very, very important issue, but it's not the only issue."

While Sanders tried to convince left-wing voters to not use Gaza as a reason to deny President Biden a second term, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) pitched Black voters on the efforts Republicans are making to win their support during a forum in Milwaukee Wednesday.

Johnson appeared with local activist and radio host Tory Lowe at the event inside the 3rd Street Market Hall. While the subject was mainly about improving Black communities, most of the people in the audience were White.

Johnson said he hoped his appearance would signal Republicans' willingness to discuss issues directly with Black voters, and he told reporters after the event he was willing to do similar forums later this year.

The Republican senator has seen his support drop in Milwaukee, which has, by far, the state's largest group of Black voters. Johnson won 22.5% of the Milwaukee city vote during his first re-election win in 2016. In 2022, Johnson won just 19.2% of the Milwaukee city vote.

When asked why Republicans' message isn't resonating more with Black voters, Johnson said he believed GOP candidates have been saying the right things.

"I really can't answer that. I think our message is spot-on," Johnson said. "We're for equal opportunity. We're for the private sector leading the way and not big government."

Johnson said he believed Republicans could make more inroads with Black voters by promoting absentee voting. A CBS 58 reporter noted Mr. Trump has contradicted himself on that subject, sometimes urging supporters to vote absentee, other times blaming mail-in voting for his 2020 loss.

"I think he'll come around and be pretty consistent," Johnson said of Mr. Trump. "I think he realizes, and certainly his campaign understands that we just cannot go into Election Day a couple hundred-thousand votes behind in these battleground states."

Back in Mount Pleasant, Sanders said the theme of his Wisconsin stop is empowering working-class voters. When asked what he'd tell voters who believe neither the Biden administration nor Republicans are doing enough to prioritize their economic needs, Sanders did not defend the president, but he said Mr. Biden is still a better option than Mr. Trump.

"I'm not here to tell you Biden or the Democrats are doing everything they should be doing; that would not be the case," Sanders said. "But given the choice between the two, Biden is far preferable."

Sanders specifically said he believed a second Trump presidency would harm the working-class by enacting tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy. When asked which change at the federal level would most benefit the working-class, Sanders said placing greater restrictions on donations to political groups, which are looser than limits on donations to candidates, themself.

Sanders will hold rallies Thursday in Sheboygan and Kaukauna. He is slated to hold events in Stevens Point and Eau Claire Friday before wrapping up Saturday in La Crosse.