* The Democratic Lt. Governors Association paid for a new PPP poll. I do not have the full poll. Here’s the memo…
A new PPP poll among Democratic primary voters in Illinois finds that Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton has made significant gains in the race for U.S. Senate. In our early February poll, she trailed Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi 23% to 34%. She now trails just 27% to 29% - a nine-point swing towards Stratton in the last three weeks.
Krishnamoorthi leads with 29%, followed by Stratton at 27% and Congresswoman Robin Kelly at 13%.
Other key findings from the survey include:
● Stratton leads among the 22% of the electorate who are Black voters, 39% to 13%.
● Stratton leads among the 56% of the electorate who are women, 32% to 28%.
● Stratton leads among the 30% of the electorate who are under age 46, 37% to 20%.
Stratton has become better known, improving her name recognition from 43% to 59%. Her favorability rating has improved from 32%-11% to 43%-15%, indicating that as voters get to know Stratton they like what they see. Over that same time, the favorability rating for Krishnamoorthi has gone from 51%-15% to 47%-24%.
In a hypothetical two-way race, Stratton leads Krishnamoorthi 37% to 32%.
Public Policy Polling surveyed: 546 likely Democratic primary voters from February 23-24, 2026. The margin of error is +/- 4.2%. 65% of the interviews for the survey were conducted by text message and 35% by telephone.
* Meanwhile, CAIR Action paid for a poll conducted by Community Pulse, Molitico. But the numbers are a bit old (February 15th - 20) and it’s a survey of registered voters who are considered by the pollster to be Democratic primary voters, modeled and weighted to the district. So, I dunno about this, but here you go anyway…
More here if you want it. Again, I cannot vouch for the way they conducted this poll, but take it however you like.
- Dan Johnson - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 1:31 pm:
Does the poll really say Daniel Bliss?
- Keyrock - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 1:38 pm:
Daniel Bliss obviously has the happy warrior lane.
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 1:42 pm:
I got the Pulse survey on 9. I remember filling it out on Metra and thinking the questions were odd and leading. No shock.
- Former Downstater - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 1:47 pm:
I generally don’t put much stock in polls that can’t even spell the leading candidate’s name right.
- Former Downstater - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 1:50 pm:
Anyone else now want to see a head to head between Tad Dombrowski and Daniel Bliss?
I promise I’m done now.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:14 pm:
Treadmill ad report from the gym around noon today. Fine had 2 or 3 ads. None of the other candidates in 09 had any. Bean had a couple.
Krishnamourthi and Stratton each had several ads in the hour I was there. There was one ad where I couldn’t tell if it was pro Stratton or anti Stratton.
FYI- this is the view from the treadmill at my local gym, with 5 TVs tuned to local Chicago stations with the sound off.
- Chicago Democrat - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:20 pm:
Daniel Bliss. Lol. Don’t believe this one.
- Amalia - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:22 pm:
Raja back to his “just call me Raja” shtick tv commecial. this time it feels childish. yes, more than before. he must feel the pressure of another candidate’s name getting out there wide.
- Lakeview Lolita - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:24 pm:
PPP is affiliated with the Democratic party, whose establishment supports the Lite Gov. It’s a cliché that all campaigns want to be seen as justbarely behind. This gives them much desired underdog status and motivates the troops. As a Robin Kelly voter whose second choice is Raja, I’m unmoved.
- Oklahoma - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:25 pm:
The writing was on the wall a month ago when everyone began to coalesce around Mr. Bliss.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:25 pm:
===PPP is affiliated with the Democratic party, whose establishment supports the Lite Gov===
Look, PPP for sure has its flaws, but that’s just a silly argument.
- New Day - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:27 pm:
The Stratton numbers are very interesting and directionally consistent with other polling. Frankly, I know Raja was soft and his campaign had not been effective despite the tens of millions spent, but even I have been surprised by how fast she has gained. She just might pull this off.
- Oklahoma - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:28 pm:
It just depends which Kat shows up here in the closing days of election day…
Will it be Abughazaleh, or will it be Abughazalaeh?
Only time will tell.
- Oklahoma - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:30 pm:
And it looks like Mr. Cohen had one too many Fs to give.
- Downstate Dem - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:37 pm:
Stratton magically only down by 2? If you believe that… I have a bridge to sell you.
- Shytown - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:39 pm:
Dan must be blissful about this poll. Methinks this CAIR “poll” is designed more to push a uninformed narrative that aipac money is toxic - if they instead just polled “does a contribution from aipac make you more or less likely to vote for a candidate” - vs. “does a contributions from aipac or the pro israel lobby” - I’m guessing most respondents would be like, wtf is aipac? Can’t imagine Dan is at 30. Would love to see the actual crosstabs.
- Katie - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:43 pm:
I think I got the IL-9 poll as well – might be mixing it up with another one but I recall thinking that it was so long that you would have to be either extremely bored or a complete freak to bother finishing it. Luckily I am both. Why would you release these results alongside a Kat endorsement??
- Techie - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:49 pm:
“Stratton magically only down by 2? If you believe that… I have a bridge to sell you.”
It’s not that hard to believe when Raja’s early lead was likely little more than name recognition.
Now that the primary draws near and there are more ads for Stratton and debates for interested voters, there’s a lot more information for them.
Raja is the furthest to the right of the 3 leading candidates, so it seems unlikely he would win the primary unless the left-wing vote is split between Stratton and Kelly.
I like Kelly more than Stratton personally, but would take either over Raja. Given our choose-only-one voting system, that means I’ll probably be voting for Stratton.
- Justin - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:51 pm:
Hoping Stratton pulls it off in the primary.
- Rahm's Parking Meter - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 2:56 pm:
Apparently, its all Bliss
. I had too.
- Cole - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 3:12 pm:
==Stratton magically only down by 2? If you believe that… I have a bridge to sell you. ==
It is a primary. Huge shifts last minute are not only not unheard of, they are fairly common. If this was a general election and the second place candidate made up this much ground you would be right to be skeptical.
- Jan Fan for Dan the Man - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 3:13 pm:
Now that we all see where the 9th congressional is heading let’s all take a deep breath and lower the temperature a bit so nobody says or does anything that they are going to wish they could take back. No sense going crazy at this point anymore.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 3:13 pm:
===Stratton magically only down===
Not saying the poll is right, just saying that I’ve been telling y’all for months that Raja’s support might be broad but paper thin.
I’ve seen it happen before.
- Gary Bears - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 3:16 pm:
If Stratton pulls it off, can’t wait for all the commentators doing contortions to pat themselves on the back instead of giving Quentin credit.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 3:18 pm:
My opinion?…Stratton is most likeable…and that may count more than many people believe.
- Low Info - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 3:24 pm:
Re: Stratton
I think it was the ad where she said F*** Trump.
That caught my attention.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 3:26 pm:
Stratton has proved she will make her position crystal clear…straight talk that hopefully resonates through the purposely confused static of our times.
- Dotnonymous x - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 3:40 pm:
“Static” is the crackling distortion heard from the interference of radio signals…speaking as a relic of times gone bye bye.
- Annon'in - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 3:57 pm:
Had Stratton been doing much besides feel good bio spot then the numbers might really be moving, but that was not the case. Now both sides got hammer time going. Alas it could come down to turnout. Or a kelly drop out.
- Thoughts - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 3:58 pm:
– Why would you release these results alongside a Kat endorsement?? —
To try and get scare other progressives candidates to drop out and endorse her
- Amalia - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 4:40 pm:
@Doynonymous, Stratton most likeable….yes, that is probably a factor. Especially as it is well known that Raja is not liked by his colleagues. So that bleeds through to more than just them. He’s rubbed me the wrong way from the beginning via his commercials. Hope Julianna can pull this off.
- Pundent - Wednesday, Feb 25, 26 @ 5:49 pm:
=To try and get scare other progressives candidates to drop out and endorse her=
I think it’s a wee bit late for that. Collectively the remaining progressive candidates barely register and many of them will want to continue their political careers once Kat’s left town. Outside of “Bliss” the most relevant candidate could be “undecided.”
Not dismissing Kat, but her long shot bid always struck me more as an exercise in furthering her brand.
- WindyCityGirl517 - Thursday, Feb 26, 26 @ 8:33 am:
Was undecided til recently and now will go with Stratton. Anyone but Raja. Interesting that his team recently did their own poll but did not release results. And suddenly he is running negative ads.