Stroger approval rating at 10 percent
Thursday, Sep 10, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Tribune’s latest poll has Todd Stroger’s job approval rating at 10 percent. That’s even lower than Rod Blagojevich’s 13 percent rating the autumn before his December arrest.
His disapproval rating is astounding…
Fully 70 percent disapprove of the job Stroger is doing, according to the poll of 300 Cook County registered voters. Asked whether they would like to see Stroger re-elected, 72 percent say no.
Stroger’s rating with black voters is horrid…
Only about 1 in 5 African-American voters polled approve of the job Stroger is doing or want to see him re-elected, while more than half oppose him.
And without providing specifics, the Tribune claims that more than three-quarters of voters want Stroger’s one percentage point sales tax repealed.
* Stroger’s response…
“I’m not surprised that the Tribune poll fails to accurately capture the opinions of voters – just as I’m not surprised by the ongoing smear campaign this paper mounts against me in their editorial pages,” Stroger said in a statement. “This paper’s owner, Sam Zell, after all, poured over $75,000 in the final weeks of the last primary into the campaign coffers of Forrest Claypool, and has made no secret that the Stroger name is loathed by the editorial pages.” […]
“[A]cross the county, countless residents have voiced outrage at the biased editorials of the Chicago Tribune and its running attempt to steer an election,” Stroger said. […]
“Our recent polling data severely conflicts with the so-called ‘data’ that the Chicago Tribune is publishing in this poll, not surprising given the miniscule size of the sample, particularly among minority communities.”
The Tribune poll is only of 300 voters, but Stroger shouldn’t be surprised at the results. They’ve been around that point for a very long time now.
Discuss.
- trafficmatt - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 8:18 am:
Not only does the “Emperor has no clothes”, he has blinders on and has his fingers in his ears going “la, la, la, la, la - can’t hear you”.
- Bookworm - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 8:23 am:
So will the “Blago line” representing the absolute, rock-bottom possible approval rating for a politician now have to be renamed the “Stroger line”?
- Ray del Camino - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 8:26 am:
A survey sample of 300 voters has a margin for error of ± 5.6%. If their subsample of African Americans was around 100, results for that subgroup would have a margin for error of almost ±10%. If it were otherwise properly done (hard to tell, given how little they release about numbers and methodology), it would still be very bad news for Mr. Stroger.
- CircularFiringSquad - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 8:30 am:
Yikes if this is on track how “non story” was all that U of I hullabaloo?
Hmmmmm Bet they wished they had kept that question in the can.
Wonder if they asked if public distrust news orgs under multiple fed criminal investigationa?
- Ghost - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 8:33 am:
I think you have done a great job of persuading me Tribune and its interpretation of its own polls are not the most accurate sources of information.
that said, it clears has he a horribly low rating.
- Ravenswood Right Winger - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 8:43 am:
Call me crazy, but am I the only person who thinks Todd will win the Dem primary because of all the other candidates splitting the anti-Todd vote?
- Bill - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 8:47 am:
No, you are not the only one. The Scabune is so transparent. Do you think it is a coincidence that they release this stuff today? I’m counting the days until they go completely under and cease publication.
- Rethickulass - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 8:50 am:
Anybody who thinks Todd Stroger is runnning for reelection is crazy. This is called “playing out the string.” Stroger has has no political support, no campaign organization and all I ever hear in the halls of the County building is that his own precinct captains are turning on him. In my neck of the woods (westside) I can’t name one political group that is circulating his petitions. Those numbers are real alright, he knows it, and he ain’t running. At the city council meeting yesterday, all you heard was dread and fear Todd would be on the ballot.
- Anon - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 8:50 am:
Okay…but there is no way that he couldn’t have a low rating with the way the media has relentlessly attacked him. Here’s what they don’t print: Todd doesn’t vote. He controls less than 2% of the budget. The county only gets 1 3/4 of a penny on the dollar. The whole 10.25% tax rate DOES NOT GO TO THE COUNTY. And they are 2,000 less jobs this year than they were 2 years ago. Why can the Governor make the argument that it have to raise revenue to take care of our most vulnerable but the County can’t make the same argument? Read the county tax bill and then make a logical argument. EVERYONE gets more than the county, who hadn’t raised the sales tax in 13 years. And hasn’t touched property tax rates in over a decade as well. In the face of Daley raising property taxes 12 times in 20 years. Not a blip about that.
The arguments just don’t make sense and the people who get frothy at the mouth whenever you mention his name are starting to sound like hotheads that want to shut down town hall meetings on health care.
I’m still waiting to hear a logical argument about how Todd Stroger alone is running the county into the ground. I haven’t heard it yet.
- South Side Mike - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 8:54 am:
Anyone else want to see the questions, quality, and sample selection of the Stroger poll? He claims that his data shows he has a lot more support, and I’m sure it’s true. I’d be willing to bet that maybe as many 30-40% of his personal patronage hacks approve of the job he’s doing. Problem is, that’s not a valid sample, either!
On the other hand, his approval rating his probably as high as it is because some residents still think his father is running the county.
- Concerned Observer - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 8:58 am:
My wife was complaining about these Tribune polls last night. “There’s a new poll every day…where are they getting the money?” To which I replied…it was probably ONE poll, a comprehensive one, that they’re milking for every last story they can pull out.
Which is my way of saying…the timing of the release has more to do with making news and selling papers than it does with any sort of ‘gotcha’ factor.
- Sewanee - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 9:00 am:
With Stroger, as with any elected official with an approval rating lower than 20, we have two options:
1) He looked like a great candidate during the election, but he was in fact a master of deceit who tricked hundreds of thousands of voters.
2) He is a poor excuse for a leader and hundreds of thousands of voters were too lazy, short-sighted, or otherwise-motivated to identify it.
Which was it?
- Bill - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 9:12 am:
==Stroger has has no political support, no campaign organization and all I ever hear in the halls of the County building is that his own precinct captains are turning on him.==
Not true.
Todd will have support from a lot of the ward and township organizations. The constant badgering from the Tribune and others may have hurt him in public opinion polls but we’ll be there for him in the primary race. Davis is a joke and Preckwinkle is a non-entity. Brown can’t win and O’Brien will be a threat. The County could do a lot worse than Todd who has kept the budget balanced, kept providing health and public safety services, and honored the union contracts. The County is in a lot better shape than the state or Chicago and Todd has proven to be a better leader than Little Dick or Quinn. He gets blamed for everything whether he has anything to do with it or not. Why don’t the geniuses at the Trib go after the Mayor if they want to try to ruin someone?
- reformer - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 9:13 am:
Todd and his advisers are under a misapprehension that he will win. There’s a disconnect with political reality.
- Chicago-Dem - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 9:13 am:
Anon:
Your are correct. The mayor has been raising taxes, water/sewer taxes ever since he won office 20 years ago. And, his administration has been filled with graf, curruption, patronage, big private contracts to friends and family, cost overuns, parking deal…and list goes on..and on… And yet, every Alderman supports his budget, olympic bids, etc…
- Chicago Cynic - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 9:16 am:
10 is impressive. I do find the 300 sample size bizarre and all I can conclude is they hate him but not enough to spend the extra $$ to do a proper poll.
- ZC - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 9:19 am:
Bill, regardless of whether Todd has been unfairly criticized, why would the Democratic ward and township organizations want to turn over control of Cook County government to a Republican in 2010? Or do you think you can turn around public opinion that far, in the intervening period?
- cassandra - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 9:24 am:
I’m not a Stroger fan but Bill and Chicago-Dem are absolutely right about Daley. Chicago media have been far too nice to him in recent years, not to mention Chicago voters who keep voting him into office again, and again, and again….at this point, Chicago voters are as guilty as Daley of the graft, corruption, patronage, big private contracts to friends and family, cost overruns, and so on.
- overcooked - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 9:28 am:
Did the poll question only Democratic primary voters? The Trib article is vague on this which makes me question the intent and results. Certainly the poor approval numbers appear to make Stroger un-electable, it sends a message to the Democratic Committemen at a crucial time. However, Stroger may only need 35% of the primary vote to win and he may be in that range. A head-to-head matchup between Stroger and a Republican will change these numbers dramatically.
- wordslinger - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 9:32 am:
The sales tax increase is kind of a bum rap, but that’s the way it goes — that 10% barrier being broken is all that a lot of people need to see and they’ll punish whomever they view as the driving force behind it.
The county war horses might have been able to anoint Todd the nominee, but they weren’t able to transfer the genuine loyalty and affection of his father’s supporters.
I don’t think the Trib’s hysterics against him hurt with the base — if anything, you think it would rally support. The fact that it hasn’t is probably a testament to his own lack of political skills.
The small sample poll aside, three African-American challengers (for the moment) are all you need to know as to how about his level of support among his base.
- DE - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 9:40 am:
Read the Trib editorial today additionally blaming Madigan for the failure to override the sales tax veto. Interesting. Maybe Todd will be taken care of post election after falling on the sword now.
- Third Generation Chicago Native - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 10:05 am:
I am not sure what to think of the next CC Pres race. Stroger got 54% and Peraica 46%, that type of results, Peraica and a GOP getting that high of a percentage shows people are fed up.
But I just don’t see a clear front runner, Preckwinkle, Davis, Stroger…none. This race could be up for grabs, and Stroger may get in again despite the Cole/Dunnings scandal/mess.
Peraica did win suburban Cook County by quite a bit see page 14
It’s too hard to tell if Stroger has a chance at this point.
I have to give Stroger credit for having his basketball injury treated at Stroger Hospital.
- bored now - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 11:24 am:
i’ve had several people in the thornton regular dem organization swear that not only will they turn out for todd, but that todd will win “decisively” in both thornton and cook county.
it was almost as if their jobs depended upon it…
- Corey Patterson - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 12:34 pm:
if Stroger had better poll numbers he would release them
- regular democrat - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 6:15 pm:
Do not enderestimate the power of the pulpit my friends. If the reverends stay in his corner and start putting pressure on Daley and his minions he has a shot. The SEIU shoould come out big for Stroger since he saved a lot of jobs and is hiring more. The perfect storm of no Claypool, no Vallas several blacks in the race and a non-existent white challenger who is broke all add up to 4 more years.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 6:22 pm:
===The SEIU shoould come out big for Stroger since he saved a lot of jobs and is hiring more===
How much money would you like to place on this endorsement for Stroger?
Seriously. How much? Because I’m in.
- fedup dem - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 10:08 pm:
All I can tell you is that when the day was done, the Democratic ward and township committeemen who make up the slatemaking subcommittee for county executive offices voted against slating anyone (effectively punting the choice to the full 80-member panel on Friday afternoon). Let’s see if any of the candidates pulls out before the final vote.
- regular democrat - Thursday, Sep 10, 09 @ 11:00 pm:
I will bet you dinner at the restaurant of your choice. You seem shocked at my suggestion that SEIU would endorse Stroger. Who were they with in 2006? VERY strongly for the father. Remember? Who are they going to endorse Preckwinkle? Stroger has protected their jobs at the county correct? It makes a lot of sense to me. Why did they work so hard for the father in 2006? Because he protected their jobs. I believe two former high ranking officials from SEIU are running his campaign. we shall see
- Rich Miller - Friday, Sep 11, 09 @ 7:22 am:
===You seem shocked at my suggestion that SEIU would endorse Stroger.===
Because I actually talk to those people.
- regular democrat - Friday, Sep 11, 09 @ 12:19 pm:
I do too sir and someone is not being truthful. I guess time will tell.