* Rasmussen’s latest Illinois poll is out.

Survey of 500 likely Illinois voters taken October 17, 2007. Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence…

1 - How do you rate the way that George W. Bush is performing his role as President?

14% Excellent
17% Good

16% Fair
52% Poor

1% Not Sure

* BUSH TOTALS: 31% good or excellent… 68% fair or poor… (32 and 67 in Rasmussen’s August poll)

2 - How do you rate the way that Rod Blagojevich is performing his role as Governor?

5% Excellent
11% Good

37% Fair
46% Poor

1% Not Sure

* BLAGOJEVICH TOTALS: 16% good or excellent… 83% fair or poor… (22 and 78 in Rasmussen’s August poll)

Oof. Could it get any worse for the governor? Now he’s polling much worse than Bush, and dropping like a stone. Wow.

* Now, on to gaming and mass transit…

5 - How closely have you followed recent news stories about the Chicago Transit Authority’s financial issues?

24% Very closely
29% Somewhat closely
25% Not very closely
21% Not at all
0% Not sure

6 - A proposal has been made to authorize more casinos in Illinois with the money going to help fund public transportation in Chicago. Do you favor or oppose this proposal?

31% Favor
57% Oppose
13% Not sure

7 - Suppose a choice had to be made between authorizing more casinos or having the Chicago Transit Authority cut half its routes. Which would you prefer?

51% Authorizing more casinos
32% Having the Chicago Transit Authority cut half its routes
17% Not sure

9 - [asked only of those who said at least once a week to the question: How often do you ride subways, trains, and buses in and around Chicago?]

Will you continue to ride CTA public transportation if fares go up to $3 or higher?

50% Yes
43% No
7% Not sure

10 - [asked only of those who said at least once a week]

Will you drive more if suburban bus and commuter train fares go up?

35% Yes
55% No
11% Not sure

Folks aren’t happy with gaming expansion for transit, and very big percentages threaten to abandon public transportation if a fare increase is enacted, as House GOP Leader Tom Cross and some Senate Republicans are suggesting. Not surprising.

* Also, according to the poll, 91 percent say they have health insurance, which is a lot more than what’s usually reported. Of those who say they have insurance, 40% rted their coverage as “Excellent,” 35% said it was “Good,” 20% said “Fair” and 4% rated it “Poor,” while 0% were not sure.

Discuss.

…Adding… Oops. I forgot to post the presidential numbers for Illinois. Click the pics for a larger view.

* Favorables…

* Matchups…

* Greg Blankenship of the Illinois Policy Institute makes a good point in comments about the health insurance results…

Likely voters — people who take citizenship seriously are likely to take other things more seriously…Thus the reason for the 7% difference between the 84.2% of the population who has coverage and the 91% coverage level in this poll.

My theory would be that you would see coverage rates drop for mere registered voters and drop further for Illinoisans or non voters.