Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar


Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives


Previous Post: Congressional roundup
Next Post: Turnout myths

Poll has statewide incumbents with huge leads, Day backs poll of 154 people

Posted in:

Remember, these Richard Day poll numbers are pretty old, but I doubt it will make much difference in the blow-out down-ballot races. However, Day’s ancient numbers may very well be a lot different now in the still somewhat volatile treasurer’s race.

* SoS & Treasurer:

In the race for secretary of state, incumbent Democrat Jesse white has a commanding lead. 65 percent of likely voters polled support White. He’s well ahead of Republican Dan Rutherford who has 24 percent. Green party candidate Karen Peterson picked up 6 percent. 5 percent of voters surveyed are still undecided. […]

Democrat Alexi Giannoulias is leading, but there are still a lot of voters that have to make up their minds. Giannoulias leads Christine Radogno by 9 points, 43-to-34. Green party candidate Dan Rodriguez Schlorff got 6 percent. 18 percent remain undecided.

* Attorney General & Comptroller:

…Democrat Lisa Madigan gets 68 percent of the vote, followed by Republican Stewart Umholtz with 22 percent. Green party candidate David Black Is at 3 percent and 7 percent still undecided. […]

Incumbent Democrat Daniel Hynes received 59 percent, followed by Carole Pankau with 21 percent. Green party candidate Alicia Snyder was at 6 percent. Undecided– 14 percent.

* And pollster Richard Day sums it up for the Daily Herald.

“It looks like it could be a sweep,” said Richard Day, whose Evanston-based firm conducted the poll. “There’s no one to pull up the bottom of the ticket (for Republicans).”

That’s a reference to Judy Baar Topinka, who leads the GOP ticket this fall but whom the poll showed has had a tough time generating enthusiasm for her campaign against scandal-battered Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The statewide survey of 603 likely voters was taken Oct. 16-22 and has an error margin of plus-or-minus 4 percentage points. […]

With the poll showing wide Democratic margins, voters could be getting ready Nov. 7 to give one party control of all statewide offices, reminiscent of 1994, when then-Gov. Jim Edgar led a Republican sweep. In 2002, voters gave Democrats control of the General Assembly, governor’s mansion, Illinois Supreme Court and all statewide offices, except for treasurer.

* Meanwhile, the Daily Herald tries to explain why its Cook County Board President poll was so different from the Tribune’s poll.

* And if you think Richard Day and the media outlets should be ashamed of himself for polling only 300 Cook County residents over several days and then sitting on the results for 8 days, check this out:

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley appears to be politically weathering last summer’s high-profile city hall hiring fraud convictions as he looks toward re-election, a Daily Herald/ABC 7 Chicago poll shows.

Daley led his most prominent potential challenger, Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr., by a better than 2-to-1 margin, 65 percent to 24 percent, according to the early survey. […]

The survey of 154 likely voters was taken Oct. 16 to 22 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 8 percentage points.

Unreal.

By the way, Day used his rating method to guage voter interest in several issues.

The bitter political atmosphere is reflected in poll results that had voters say their top reason for supporting both Blagojevich and Topinka in the governor’s race, as well as Republican David McSweeney against Democratic U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean in the 8th District contest, is they disliked the opponents. Additionally, Democratic Cook County Board president hopeful Todd Stroger was viewed negatively by 53 percent of those surveyed.

Voters rated “promoting ethics and honesty in government” as their top concern in the statewide survey, giving it an 8.9 on the 1-10 scale. Job creation placed second at 8.5, crime concerns came in third at 8.4, increasing school funding was fourth at 8.2, and state budget problems fifth at 8.1.

Illegal immigration scored only a 6.8 — not as strong as one might expect, given the Republican focus on the issue this year, Day said.

In the 6th Congressional District race, immigration was cited by 9 percent of those polled as their primary reason for supporting Republican Peter Roskam, who has attacked Democrat Tammy Duckworth for being too soft on the issue. And in the 8th District race, only 2 percent listed immigration as their biggest reason for backing McSweeney over Bean.

Just because a political party focuses on an issue like immigration doesn’t mean voters will necessarily care all that much.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 8:54 am

Comments

  1. The last one shouldn’t have even been released. I have to wonder if these aren’t subsamples of a larger sample and then the question is–why bother. Or at least report them as subsamples and say they aren’t useful.

    The sheer number of sampling numbers that crop up with smaller samples alone makes this incredibly stupid.

    Comment by archpundit Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 9:11 am

  2. I have seen three more recent and comprehensive polls on the Treasures race. In all three Alexi leads anywhere from 12% to 17%. We will know for sure on November 7.

    Comment by (618) Democrat Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 9:13 am

  3. jesse white hit dan rutherford today on tv. why?

    Comment by ninja Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 9:26 am

  4. In a suprising move, I did see Stu Umholtz at the McCain-McSweeney fundraiser on Monday. I was amazed!! First I seen the first signs for him a couple weeks ago (few and far between of course) and then seen him in person… this is just amazing!!

    I can provide documentation (photos if necessary). This siting is rarer than siting Big Foot and such.

    Comment by Umholtz has been Spotted... Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 9:33 am

  5. Why aren’t more people talking about that horribly offensive Dan Rutherford tv ad where he plasters up Jesse’s photo and age (72), and says that’s too old to fight corruption?

    Is insulting seasoned citizens really the way to try and break the 30% barrier in this race?

    Also, Rutherford’s a guy who has NEVER said a peep about corruption in his own party, and he used to be close to George Ryan. And I believe if you go back, you’ll find he said at the very beginning that he would only run a positive campaign against Jesse.

    But now he takes a cheap shot at Jesse’s age.

    What’s he thinking?

    Comment by Peachy Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 9:36 am

  6. Day’s confused on immigration. The reason Republicans play it up is that it has huge intensity numbers for a section of its base. It’s not a big swing voter issue–it’s a good get out the vote issue and with Republicans not all that thrilled with the President’s plan, it’s necessary for Congressional Candidates to really hit it to try and energize those voters.

    His polling gets it right in this case, but I’m unclear how this isn’t better understood.

    Comment by archpundit Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 9:47 am

  7. Umholtz and Rutherford are polling the same in their respective races? After this, I have a hard time seeing Dan as the future of the ILGOP.

    Comment by Veritas Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 10:36 am

  8. That Joseph Ryan story in the Herald is absurd. People only read polls for one thing–to see who is actually ahead at the time the poll was taken. The two front page headlines in the Trib and Herald yesterday was an embarassment for the Daily Herald. I’m expecting to see “Dewey Wins” in an upcoming issue.

    Comment by Reality Check Wednesday, Nov 1, 06 @ 12:29 pm

Add a comment

Sorry, comments are closed at this time.

Previous Post: Congressional roundup
Next Post: Turnout myths


Last 10 posts:

more Posts (Archives)

WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.

powered by WordPress.