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GOP poll: Just 20 percent pessimistic about Illinois’ economy

Monday, Jan 22, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

(B)ack in 2008, when Rod Blagojevich was nearing his fateful end, the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute found that 75% of Illinoisans believed Illinois was heading in the wrong direction, while 12.4% believed it was going in the right direction.

In 2010, the Simon Institute had the wrong/right track result at 81%-11%. In 2011, the Institute poll pegged the numbers at 75%-15% wrong/right, and it stayed there for a while. The Simon poll’s 2012 wrong/right results were 70%-20%. The 2013 Simon poll had it at 75%-16%.

In early 2015, shortly after Republican Bruce Rauner was sworn in as governor, Illinoisans’ mood improved a little. “Only” 63% said the state was headed in the wrong direction, while 22% said it was moving in the right direction.

By 2016, after all heck had broken loose in Springfield amid Rauner’s refusal to negotiate a budget until he won his war with organized labor, things got even worse. The Simon poll found a whopping 84% of the state’s voters believed Illinois was off on the wrong track, while only 10% thought it was following the right path. The Simon poll numbers were essentially unchanged two years later (84%-9%) as Rauner was finishing up his first and only term.

By October of 2022, an Emerson College poll found that 52 percent thought Illinois was on the wrong track, while 48 percent thought the state was heading in the right direction.

* Gov. Pritzker was asked today about national polling which shows that, despite lower inflation and a stronger economy, people are still pessimistic about economic conditions. His response…

Well, we’re actually solving problems and actually making things better. And in the end, it’s good policy that makes good politics.

And so whether there’s a lag between the time that people feel the benefit of an economy where earners are earning, outpacing inflation, and therefore their income levels are rising. They may not recognize it at the beginning. But I think they’re beginning to recognize it now.

I’d like to say I just read a Republican poll in Illinois that shows that, in Illinois anyway, that more than 50 percent of the people of Illinois are optimistic about the economy in Illinois and only 42 percent are not optimistic. That’s different than the polls that you’re citing, right? And that’s a recent poll by a Republican organization. And it shows that I think there’s progress and, certainly in Illinois, there is more optimism.

* I asked his spokesperson what poll he was talking about and was pointed to this result…

That’s actually a better result than Pritzker portrayed. Just 20 percent are pessimistic? And less than one percent are very pessimistic? In Illinois?

Empower to Win is a project of Cor Strategies, which is a Republican consulting group. The poll was featured in their latest video presentation.

…Adding… From the Empower to Win response to Pritzker’s comments…

This latest tracking poll shows a huge challenge for Illinois Republicans in 2024. How do you craft an economic message when a majority of voters are optimistic about the economy, yet still cite the economy as one of their top issues and want to leave the state?

More from the poll…

25 Comments

*** UPDATED x2 - City fires back - Pritzker disses city ‘plan’ *** Asylum-seekers news coverage roundup

Monday, Jan 22, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Politico…

Behind closed doors: [Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson] met privately with small groups of aldermen Friday — keeping groups small avoids the pesky open meeting rules — to brief them on how the city will no longer set up new shelter space because the costs are too high. That means it won’t build industrial tents for migrants, either. Here’s a copy of the briefing report obtained by Playbook.

New strategy: The city will work with churches and private individuals to find beds for asylum seekers. And as individuals leave any of the current shelters, beds will open for the next wave of migrants. And while the cold snap continues, the Harold Washington Library will serve as a warming center for some asylum seekers as well as for the already unhoused.

The goal: Get asylum seekers into regular housing as soon as possible or send them back to the landing area, which is a shelter of sorts until beds open up in the current shelters. Getting folks out of shelters and into housing will be easier now that the state has staffed up case managers in nearly all of the city’s 28 shelters, the aldermen were told.

[From Rich: The landing area is not a “shelter of sorts.” Heated buses ain’t shelters. This “plan” is not a plan. Instead, it’s the mayor deciding that reality will not intrude on his other priorities. Also, his budget deliberately underfunded this effort and the money will run out in April. What’s the city gonna do then?]

*** UPDATE 1 *** Gov. Pritzker was asked about this report today…

We do not have enough shelter as it is in the city of Chicago. The city has not told the state where they would like us to put our resources to build new shelters or help them build new shelters. So we can’t help if they don’t identify those locations. And we need to make sure that we’re not ending shelter capacity as the city is now planning to do at the end of winter. If you think this problem is going to end when the temperature warms up, it’s not. We still need shelter for people. So I’m deeply concerned and I’m hoping that at least the plan that I read this morning actually in your column is not one that they will end up carrying out.

…Adding… From comments…

this reminds me of the line in Band Of Brothers about a lieutenant: “He wasn’t a bad leader because he made bad decisions. He was a bad leader because he made no decisions.”

*** UPDATE 2 *** Um, this statement from the city ignores the approximately $600 million spent by the state. The city has not “carried the entire of weight”…

There are 1,300 municipalities in the State of Illinois, of which Chicago is one. The State has the authority to fund, stand up and operate a shelter in any one of those municipalities at any time that it chooses, including the City of Chicago. When announcing additional funding for the mission on November 16, 2023, the State reduced the length of rental assistance from six to three months for all residents in shelter. The 60-day shelter policy was announced in conjunction with State investments to accelerate outmigration and resettlement.

Our goal is to manage the immediate humanitarian crisis while providing the necessary resources for asylum seekers to achieve independence and self-sufficiency. The City of Chicago has taken in nearly 35,000 new arrivals since the mission began, and currently houses 14,000 new arrivals in 28 City-run shelters. Outmigration and resettlement services have been expanded significantly to create more open beds within the shelter system.

We continue to partner with the County and the State to provide asylum seekers with temporary shelter, food services, medical care and case management, and will support the State in fulfilling its promise of 2,200 shelter beds made back in November. Thus far, the City of Chicago has carried the entire of weight of the new arrival mission, sheltering nearly every asylum seeker sent to Illinois. We remain committed, however, to ensuring that asylum seekers are housed while also fulfilling our fiduciary responsibilities to the people of Chicago.

Also, resettlement is being handled by the state, not the city.

And this once again begs the question: Is the progressive mayor just going to dump migrants into the street when his woefully inadequate budget runs out of appropriations authority?

[ *** End Of Updates *** ]

* Block Club…

Migrants and volunteers told Block Club that the changing deadline for leaving shelters has created “panic,” with communication from the city limited to single-page eviction notices in Spanish, often passed out just a day or two before shelter stays are said to be up.

Some migrants still have outdated eviction notices penned for Jan. 22, when the deadline was first extended, said volunteer Erika Villegas, who has been receiving frantic messages from families with pictures of the notices. […]

Mayoral spokesperson Ronnie Reese said plans are still in flux.

“We are currently finalizing changes to the 60-day policy and will have more information in the coming weeks,” Reese said in an email.

[From Rich: More info in “the coming weeks”? Their evictions were scheduled for today.]

* ABC Chicago…

New numbers Friday show the cost Texas paid to fly migrants to Illinois last month.

Two flights were chartered by the Texas state government late last year. One flew from El Paso and landed at O’Hare Airport. The other was from San Antonio and landed in Rockford. […]

The Texas Division of Emergency Management spent $135,000 on the flight that landed at O’Hare and more than $235,000 on the flight to Rockford.

The flight from El Paso carried more than 120 migrants to Chicago, which means at least $1,000 was spent per migrant. There were more than 300 asylum seekers on the flight to Rockford.

* More…

Sun-Times | What New York’s migrant shelter limits could mean for Chicago: ‘Expect utter chaos’:

* The Hill | Texas company sues Chicago over penalties on buses dropping of migrants: The suit argues Chicago’s penalties are a violation of the interstate commerce clause, and the equal rights and due process of the company and the migrants on buses. “Rather than welcoming migrants and giving them sanctuary, Chicago is turning its back on those wishing to travel here by enacting an ordinance that targets the transportation companies that transport migrants from our southern border to their desired destination — Chicago. — in violation of Plaintiff’s constitutional rights,” the suit stated.

* NPR | Chicago mayor talks immigration as city shelters reach breaking point: Mayors from all over the country are meeting in Washington D.C. this week to discuss immigration and other pressing issues in their cities. We get the latest from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

* Rockford Register Star | What happened the night a plane filled with asylum seekers landed in Rockford?: With temperatures dipping to 30 degrees in the early morning hours of New Year’s Eve, migrant families who went to Texas seeking asylum, found themselves exiting an Eastern Airlines charter plane in Rockford. Most of the 355 people were children, officials say, and they were wearing t-shirts, shorts and flip flops.

* The Record | Wilmette steps up for arriving migrants, leading Village to expand donation drive: The Village started an impromptu winter-clothing drive to support migrants by placing donation boxes inside the town’s Metra station, 722 Green Bay Road. It didn’t take long for community members to respond. “The response was incredible,” Village Manager Mike Braiman said. “The station was filled wall to wall with donations within a couple of days.”