New Study says Scott Walker's Divide and Conquer strategy wildly successful.

It was an impossible task. Democrats were hitting every conservatives sore spot, from the many decades of built up hatred over public workers fixing our streets, lazy high paid teachers who had off 3 months of the year, and unionization that force companies to pay decent wages and benefits that private sector workers got screwed out of. Protests over Act 10 for conservatives was the last straw. It was a well deserved comeuppance for Democrats they waited years to see. 

From a great Special Report/Dividing Lines in the Journal Sentinel from Craig Gilbert, the unintended consequences of the protests and recall, which I don't regret of a second. Imagine what will happen now that Walker signed into law his voter suppression plan:  

Were Milwaukee voters sleeping?

The ones who think elections matter, feel a stake in the outcome and follow politics the most intently. That also means more moderate voters — the constituency for compromise and conciliation — play a lesser role. "They're less engaged and less likely to turn out," says political scientist Charles Franklin, a Marquette Law School professor who has conducted 20 statewide polls in Wisconsin since 2012, and who collaborated on the research for these stories. 

During Walker's raucous first term, partisan Democrats and Republicans were more politically active than independents in all sorts of ways, according to Franklin's polling. They were more likely to put up a yard sign or bumper sticker, contribute to a campaign, go to a rally, or talk politics with friends and family. They were far more likely to try to influence the way other people voted. "The very strongest Packers fans are also the ones most likely to watch the game," says Franklin about the connection between this area's high levels of engagement and partisan passion.

These maps are an eye opener and really sad: