Posted on 06/10/2010 7:13:20 AM PDT by iowamark
Democratic incumbent Pat Quinn and his Republican challenger Bill Brady are aggressively duking it out for governor of Illinois, but the numbers in the race arent moving.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state finds Brady with 47% of the vote, while Quinn chalks up 36% support. Eight percent (8%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and 10% remain undecided.
The numbers have scarcely budged since early March when Brady was declared the winner of the GOP Primary by 193 votes out of 750,000 cast. In the first Rasmussen Reports survey after the state election boards decision, Brady posted a 47% to 37% lead over Quinn. In late April, the Republican was ahead 45% to 38%.
Quinn continues to fall well short of the 50% level considered critical for incumbents at this stage of a campaign. This is especially telling in President Obamas home state which has trended Democratic in recent years.
Despite Bradys narrow primary win, he now has the support of 80% of Republican voters. By comparison, Quinn who also narrowly defeated a primary challenger gets just 60% of Democratic votes. Voters not affiliated with either party prefer the Republican by better than two-to-one.
But Quinn, who became governor when Rod Blagojevich was impeached by the State Senate for corruption, also faces major budget problems which have led to a recent downgrading of the states credit rating. State legislators just approved a budget with a $13 billion deficit and, after rejecting Quinns calls for an income tax hike and higher taxes on cigarettes, left it to him to make cuts to close the budget gap.
Additional information from the survey will be released during the week at RasmussenReports.com/Illinois.
Only 37% of Illinois voters are at least somewhat confident that Quinn will make the right choices when it comes to cutting the state budget, but 60% dont share that confidence. This includes eight percent (8%) who are Very Confident in the governor and 31% who are Not At All Confident.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Illinois was conducted on June 7, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/-4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Illinois hotly contested race for the U.S. Senate between Republican Congressman Mark Kirk and State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias remains a toss-up. Kirk is barely ahead of Giannoulias 42% to 39%.
Also little changed over the last three months are voters views of Quinns performance as governor. Forty-two percent (42%) approve of the job he is doing, while 57% disapprove.
Fifty-four percent (54%) of voters in Illinois favor repeal of the health care plan, slightly lower than the view nationally, while 42% oppose repeal. Those numbers include 42% who Strongly Favor repeal and 36% who Strongly Oppose it.
Seventy-three percent (73%) of those who Strongly Favor repeal support Brady. Sixty-four percent (64%) of voters who Strongly Oppose repeal support Quinn.
Brady, a home builder and state senator, is viewed Very Favorably by 14% of Illinois voters and Very Unfavorably by 15%. Twenty-one percent (21%) dont know enough about him to express any kind of opinion.
Twelve percent (12%) have a Very favorable opinion of Quinn, who has been involved in state and local politics for most of his life, while 28% view him Very Unfavorably. Just six percent (6%) have no opinion of the governor.
At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with strong opinions more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.
Rasmussen Reports has released polls on the 2010 governors races in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Please sign up for the Rasmussen Reports daily e-mail update (its free) or follow us on Twitter or Facebook. Let us keep you up to date with the latest public opinion news.
We are seeing the GOP return to relevancy in CA, IL,, NJ, MA, and HI already this year. This is a great thing. The only state missing is MI (of course they will continue to wallow in depression under the Dems while pointing fingers at the minority party in that failed state.)
“The only state missing is MI (of course they will continue to wallow in depression under the Dems while pointing fingers at the minority party in that failed state.)”
What, the GOP can’t put up a decent candidate after 8 years of the disaster that is Jennifer Granholm?
What is Brady like, out of curiosity?
He is a prolife conservative, unlike the candidate he very narrowly defeated in the primary.
Sweeeeeeet
..."sigh"...
I hope I am wrong.
*IL Politics Ping*
Pay attention to Quinn’s negatives. 57%. That’s why he’s going to lose the election, unless he can drive Brady’s higher.
Good to see the gap expanding...
Here in suburban Chicago we describe him simply as “a downstate Republican”
Those 36% for Quinn are socialists and those tied to the democrat party for their livelihood (not mutually exclusive, either). The 10% undecided are clueless.
Is he clean? Or like all the other Illinois politicians?
Norge, University of Illinois, 1960.
Nope. Quinn is toast.
The article states that 8% prefer another candidate. Do the majority of them support a conservative or a liberal?
He doesn’t appear to be beholden or controlled by The Combine. He’ll need to prove it after his election, tho.
Hey, Granholm kept her re-election campaign promise. Did she say something like if they re-elected her you wouldn't recognize the place in four years? Got that right...
Thanks.
Burnt toast. Stinking up the kitchen.
But this being Illinois, a poll of the dead shows they support Quinn overwhelmining, and are expected to vote in large numbers.
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