Advertisement Sheriff Clarke's approval numbers are in the tank Public Policy Polling survey shows Democrats have largely abandoned the sheriff Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke has no path to being re-elected next year if new data from a public policy firm is to be believed. Clarke, who was elected as a Democrat, has the support of just 13 percent of Democratic primary voters, according to the poll by Public Policy Polling. "Milwaukee voters think David Clarke is embarrassing their county on the nationallevel," said Dean Debnam, the president of the firm. "Democratic voters areopen to replacing him with just about anyone at this point." The poll found that Clarke has an approval rating of 31 percent of the voters in the county. Sixty five percent of those polled said they believe Clarke has had a negative impact on the county's image nationally. Download full survey results The survey of 1,260 Milwaukee County voters was conducted over the weekend, from Friday to Sunday, and has a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percent. Voters became increasingly critical of Clarke after the deaths of four people inside the Milwaukee County Jail and after the sheriff became more openly political in his public statements. Additionally, county auditors launched an investigation into an incident at Milwaukee's Mitchell International Airport after a man accused Clarke of abusing his power. The man, Dan Black, said Clarke had him unfairly detained by deputies following a brief exchange on board a flight. Clarke responded to the complaint -- which his office dubbed as "fake news" -- by saying the next time someone does something similar "they may get knocked out." That was followed by a post on the sheriff's department's Facebook page with a photo of Black and a threat to make him disappear. On the eve of President Trump's inauguration, the sheriff avoided WISN 12 NEWS' questions about the plane incident and his department's response as he walked from a vehicle to a venue where a Wisconsin victory party was being held. Video at the "DeploraBall," another event held later that evening, shows Clarke saying that the only way he'd reach across the aisle to work with Democrats "is to grab one of them by the throat." At least one state lawmaker has asked Gov. Scott Walker to remove Clarke from office.