Yes, I read that 53% of voters voted for Democratic legislative candidates but Democrats only hold 36% of seats in the legislature.

Republicans have discovered how to "hack" democracy. I think it's pretty clear both sides have engaged in some pretty egregious gerrymandering in different parts of the country, but only Republicans have become so hostile to allowing people to actually vote. And while both parties' positions on voter laws may be due to self-interest (marginal voters are more likely to vote Democratic, so barriers to voting are more likely to negatively affect Democrats) it doesn't really matter - the Republican position of things like shortening early voting, closing tons of polling places in spots like university towns, forcing a vote during a pandemic is bad for democracy.

The core Wisconsin Democratic constituencies (blacks, public employees, and college students) are very concentrated geographically. Any reasonably compact districting is going to produce the same results.

This is just blatantly false. The gerrymandering in Wisconsin was what was taken to the Supreme Court in the political gerrymandering case, precisely because it heavily favored Republicans.

The Supreme Court ruled against the plaintiffs (not surprisingly, 5-4 I might add), but in the grounds that the federal courts didn't have the power to intervene in cases of political gerrymandering, but no one really debated that the Wisconsin maps heavily favored Republicans over what a more normal, compact map would produce.

Nah. I live here.

Wisconsin is just corrupt. You wouldn't believe the geometric gymnastics they jump through to try to get districts that will always vote liberal or conservative. Districting maps look like something from mc escher.

Those groups are also concentrated in places that have higher population density, hence more representatives. The only way to prove that districting produces fair and unbiased results is to have it happen in a fair and open fashion.

One additional thing to add. I live in Wisconsin, and know a lot of people inside and outside of the cities. It's a misconception that rural whites are exclusively red. Sure, there are reliable "base" groups, but also a huge swath of people throughout the state who are generally swing-y. For instance I know farmers and "white working class" people who are staunch liberals.