* As I told subscribers this morning, Rasmussen has a new poll pitting the two Democratic gubernatorial candidates against three different Republicans. Dan Hynes does better than Pat Quinn against the Republicans. The problem, though, is that for whatever reason Rasmussen didn’t test Jim Ryan against the Democrats. Bizarre.
The top two Democratic hopefuls in Illinois’ 2010 race for governor both beat three leading Republican challengers in the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state.
But state Comptroller Daniel Hynes, who hopes to wrest the Democratic nomination from Governor Pat Quinn, runs slightly stronger against all three Republicans. Among just Democratic voters, Hynes draws slightly more support than Quinn.
That’s pretty interesting considering that Hynes is losing so badly to Quinn in the Tribune’s primary poll.
Quinn, who became governor in January following the impeachment of Rod Blagojevich, beats former state Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna 41% to 33%. Hynes bests McKenna by even more, 43% to 30%.
Against GOP State Senator Kirk Dillard, Quinn wins 41% to 30%. But Hyines takes Dillard 42% to 29%.
State Senator Bill Brady, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2006, fares the worst of the three Republicans. He loses to Quinn by 15 points – 45% to 30% - and to Hynes by 19 – 46% to 27%.
Around 20% of voters remain undecided in all of Hynes’ match-ups, with slightly fewer saying the same when Quinn is the Democrat in the race. […]
Quinn is viewed favorably by 52% and unfavorably by 44%. Just five percent (5%) have no opinion of the incumbent governor. Fifty-two percent (52%) also have a favorable view of Hynes, while 30% regard him unfavorably. But 18% don’t know enough about him to venture even a soft favorable or unfavorable opinion.
McKenna has the highest favorables (42%) among the GOP candidates, while 34% view him unfavorably. Thirty-eight percent (38%) have a favorable opinion of Dillard, with another 36% who see him unfavorably. Brady is regarded favorably by 36% and unfavorably by 37%.
But roughly one-in-four Illinois voters don’t know any of the Republican contenders well enough to express an opinion of them.
Illinois Survey of 500 Likely Voters Conducted December 14, 2009 By Rasmussen Reports. Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence
* Meanwhile, a Dan Hynes spokesman claims that yesterday’s endorsement of Quinn by Secretary of State Jesse White looks like it was held back in order to spring at the most opportune moment…
[Hynes spokesman Dan McDonald] said the governor wants to change the subject as questions arise about an unpublicized early release program for state prisoners. He charged that Quinn has flip-flopped on his knowledge of the program and let criminals off easy.
Earlier this week, Quinn ordered a “top-to-bottom” review of the release program, but said it was a Department of Corrections issue.
Since then, the Hynes campaign has continued to raise questions about it, first in connection with a plan to bring Guantanamo detainees to Illinois and now in light of the timing of White’s endorsement.
“I think it says that the governor doesn’t want to talk about his convoluted policies,” McDonald said. “He’d rather try to roll out an endorsement than answer questions.”
And Quinn’s campaign has a new video of the White endorsement. Watch it…
