Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's (R-WI) battle against collective bargaining for state employees may have given added ammunition to opponents, but it's also generating tons of gossip on social media.

According to OhMyGov Analytics, mentions referencing the governor on Twitter peaked at 2,669 around May 9, for an overall total of 8,056 for the week. meanwhile, news coverage soared, increasing 8.1 percent in a sign that the recall campaign against him is heating up quickly.

Comments about Walker were mixed on Twitter.

"Keep the momentum going!" A Walker opponent wrote. "Recall Scott Walker because he's #badforWI!"

Others cheered on the Republican incumbent.

"We're not going backward, we're going forward!" a supporter tweeted, referencing the acceptance speech the governor made to a crowd of hundreds in Waukesha, WI election night.

Tom Barrett, the Democratic challenger, has garnered a modest following of Twitter followers since his @BarrettforWi account officially launched.  Barrett's 4,692 followers are pale in comparison to Walker's 37,252.

Since his nomination, Barrett has been busy firing up the crowd on Twitter, tweeting 988 times in an effort to catch up with the Wisconsin governor, who has logged 2,742 tweets.

If polling is any indication, Wisconsinites are just as evenly split in real-life as they are on the web. Surveys by Marquette University and Public Policy Polling both found the candidates neck-and-neck, with Marquette giving Walker a one percent lead in April while a PPP poll in January gave the race to Barrett by three points.

The polarization of the race has taken a real toll on civility in the state.  According to Marquette, nearly 30 percent of Wisconsin residents have stopped speaking to someone they know because of political disagreements. 

"There's no center," Wisconsin state senator Tim Cullen told the LA Times' David Lauter.

Spending has been growing, too.  Conservative groups helped raise $23 million for Walker ahead of the recall, with an estimated total of $80 million raised by the election's end.

Even as the rhetoric becomes more heated, politicians--both on the right and the left--are worried that the polarization could make bipartisan bills less formidable than in the 1980s, when Cullen took his seat in the state senate.

"This isn't going to stop with one election," said Senator Dale Schultz, one of the few Republican legislators who voted against Walker's bill taking away collective bargaining rights from state employees. "What we're discovering is what happens when people don't get along. The hatred doesn't go away."