* A recent statewide poll commissioned by Forest County Potawatomi, an Indian tribe in Wisconsin, asked a lot of questions about how Illinoisans felt about gaming expansion.

I’ll have more for subscribers tomorrow, but here are a couple of interesting results to tease you with today…

Now, as you may know, Illinois Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn has called for a ballot referendum to directly ask Illinois’ voters if the State should allow an expansion of casino-style gambling in Illinois.

Would you Support or Oppose the State of Illinois placing a referendum question on the ballot to determine if Illinois should allow an expansion of casino gambling?

Strongly Support……………………………………………………47%
Somewhat Support…………………………………………………30
Somewhat Oppose…………………………………………………..7
Strongly Oppose…………………………………………………….13
Don’t Know…………………………………………………………….2
Refused………………………………………………………………….–

77 percent support a statewide referendum, eh? Interesting.

* And then there was this completely unsurprising yet still troubling result…

Now, I’m going to read you the names of several people who are active in politics. I’d like you to rate your feeling toward each one as either very positive, somewhat positive, neutral, somewhat negative or very negative. If you don’t know the name, just say so.

Rod Blagojevich...

Very Positive: 6
Somewhat Positive: 14
[Total positive: 20]

Neutral: 13

Somewhat Negative: 21
Very Negative: 42
[Total negative: 63]

Do Not Recognize: 2
Don’t Know 2:

Ouch.

[Fako & Associates poll of 801 registered voters, conducted January 3 - 6, 2008, with a margin of error of +/- 3.46.]