Nearly all Wisconsin job creators say state going in right direction, GOP group says

The Republican State Leadership Committee, a Washington, D.C.-based group that works to elect GOP lieutenant governors and other "down-ballot" state officials, is new to PolitiFact.

And it is newly making an eye-popping claim -- albeit one quite similar to a claim we rated more than a year and a half ago.

In a Wisconsin radio ad released Oct. 9, 2014, the GOP group promotes the campaign of Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, who is running on the ticket with Gov. Scott Walker in the Nov. 4, 2014 election. They face Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mary Burke and her running mate, state Sen. John Lehman of Racine.

The ad makes a number of boasts about the Walker-Kleefisch administration, including this one: "95 percent of job creators say Wisconsin is headed in the right direction."

That's decidedly favorable; but, the way the group states it, also misleading.

Previous claim

Walker made a similar claim in February 2012, saying 94 percent of Wisconsin employers think the state "is heading in the right direction" and a majority say they will "grow their companies in 2012."

We rated his statement Half True.

Both numbers were correct. But they came from a small survey by the pro-Walker Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce of some of its members.

The December 2011 survey of 281 chief executive officers amounted to a sample that is not reflective of the overall makeup of businesses in the state. For example, a majority of the survey respondents were manufacturing executives, but manufacturing establishments are just 6 percent of Wisconsin’s businesses.

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Walker, however, presented the statistics without noting the critical limitations.

New survey

WMC does its survey every other year. The latest one was conducted in November and December of 2013. This time, 95 percent of 341 CEOs said the state was going in the right direction.

And that's the survey the national GOP group relies on in making its claim.

But that claim has the same problems as the one Walker made.

Our rating

The Republican State Leadership Committee said: "95 percent of job creators say Wisconsin is headed in the right direction."

The number is correct, but it comes from a small survey by one trade group and amounts to a sample that is not reflective of the overall makeup of state businesses.

We rate the claim Half True.

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