* From a statewide poll conducted for Empower Illinois…

Q. As you may know, Governor JB Pritzker has restricted high school contact sports like football, soccer and volleyball from returning this fall citing the advice of medical professionals. Do you support or oppose the governor’s decision?

Support the governor’s restrictions on high school contact sports 55%
Believe we should restrict all high school sports 7%
Oppose restricting any high school sports 31%
Unsure 7%

With all the media uproar, you’d think the opposition would be higher. Nope.

* More poll results…

Q. Which comes closer to your view about where Illinois stands in the Coronavirus pandemic?

Worst is behind us 31%
Worst is yet to come 35%
Don’t know 34%

Q. Thinking about you, personally, has the Coronavirus outbreak had a major impact, minor impact, or no real impact on your own daily life?

Major impact 47%
Minor impact 36%
No impact 14%
Unsure 2%

Q. In general, would you say that you are more concerned about the economic impact of the Coronavirus pandemic – that is, the effect on the economy, unemployment and the stock market, or are you more concerned about the public health impact – that is, the spread of the disease and additional deaths.

Economic Impact 36%
Public health impact 54%
‘Unsure 9%

Q. Which of the following best describes your current work status as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic?

You are continuing to work like you did before 30%
You are continuing to work, but doing it remotely or from home 18%
You are continuing to work, but your hours and/or pay have been reduced 9%
You have been laid off, furloughed or unable to work because of the pandemic 11%
You were not working or were retired prior to the outbreak 31%

Q. Do you believe that your local elected officials understand the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on you personally?

Completely understand 22%
Somewhat understand 33%
Don’t really understand 18%
Don’t understand at all 18%
Unsure 8%

The pollster then asked questions of small subsets, so click here for the rest.

* Methodology…

This poll was conducted by We Ask America between September 27th and 29th, 2020 using a blend of automated calls to landlines and live-operator calls to cell phones. In all, 800 interviews were achieved among registered voters in Illinois. 400 of these responses came from cell phones. The margin of error for this survey is +/- 3.46% at a Confidence Interval of 95%.

Registered voters were surveyed.

* Related…

* Chicago is weighing whether to reopen schools. Can it move forward without the consent of its teachers? Chicago schools officials have met regularly with the Chicago Teachers Union representatives, but they haven’t agreed on a road map or even on the need for one.

* 30 Decatur teachers reprimanded for not following remote learning grading guidelines