* 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specifics, the Tribune claims that more than three-quarters of voters want Stroger’s one percentage point sales tax repealed.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.