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Poll: 66 percent of Chicagoans think the city is on the wrong track

Monday, Sep 25, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Normington, Petts & Associates poll, taken Sept. 11-13 of 500 registered Chicago voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent…

Would you say things in Chicago are generally headed in the RIGHT DIRECTION or would you say things are pretty seriously off on the WRONG TRACK?

RIGHT DIRECTION 20%
WRONG TRACK 66
DON’T KNOW 14

Whew, man.

* Interesting that they don’t really know whom to blame, but more point at Gov. Rauner than anyone else…

Changing subjects, which of the following do you blame the most for Chicago’s financial problems? [READ AND RANDOMIZE]

GOVERNOR BRUCE RAUNER 22%
FORMER MAYOR RICHARD DALEY 20
MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL 16
THE STATE LEGISLATURE 16
THE CITY COUNCIL 10
UNIONS REPRESENTING CITY EMPLOYEES 4
(DON’T KNOW) 12

* And I’m betting that plenty of people outside the city believe this about state budget problems as well…

Do you STRONGLY AGREE, SOMEWHAT AGREE, SOMEWHAT DISAGREE or STRONGLY DISAGREE that the budget and fiscal problems at the city and state level are hurting business expansion in Chicago?

STRONGLY AGREE 64%
SOMEWHAT AGREE 21
SOMEWHAT DISAGREE 6
STRONGLY DISAGREE 3
(DON’T KNOW) 7
TOTAL AGREE 84%
TOTAL DISAGREE 9%

All emphasis was added by me.

* Meanwhile, the poll found that 16 percent of Chicagoans had a favorable opinion of President Trump, while 75 percent had an unfavorable opinion. Gov. Rauner’s numbers were 19 favorable, 59 unfavorable. Mayor Emanuel’s were 33 favorable, 45 unfavorable. JB Pritzker’s were 29 favorable, 21 unfavorable [10 percent very unfavorable]. And Chris Kennedy’s were 19 favorable, 18 unfavorable [8 percent very unfavorable].

* The poll also found that the Chicago Police Department rated a 50 percent favorable rating compared to a 30 percent unfavorable rating.

More from the accompanying analysis…

What most people want to know is how the results break down by race. Of African-Americans polled, it does change, although not as much as I expected. The breakdown is: 11 percent very favorable; 24 percent somewhat favorable; 23 percent neutral; 17 percent somewhat unfavorable; and 20 percent very unfavorable.

…Adding… From Kitty Kurth…

Hey Rich - this poll that you quoted is the Temkin/Harris poll commissioned by Max Temkin from Cards Against Humanity and Melissa Harris. They will be doing these “mood of the city” polls periodically.

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Catholic group warns Rauner against signing “electoral suicide note”

Monday, Sep 25, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From an organization called Catholic Vote regarding HB40 and Gov. Rauner…

Earlier this year we co-funded a private poll in Illinois. We interviewed Republicans and Democrats, pro-life voters and pro-abortion people in Illinois to mirror the expected turnout of voters next year. And the results were shocking:

* 58% of voters oppose taxpayer funding of abortion vs. 32% in favor
* 30% of voters are “much less likely” to vote for Rauner if he signs this bill
* An additional 10% of voters are “somewhat less likely” to support him again

The conclusion: If Gov. Bruce Rauner signs this bill into law, he is signing an electoral suicide note. The results are clear: a significant portion of his base will not support him next year.

H.B. 40 was approved by the General Assembly earlier this year. But legislators decided not to send the bill to Rauner fearing he might veto it. Instead, they held the bill and have quietly lobbied him for months. The bill would authorize state funding for abortions for Medicaid recipients and state employees for ANY reason. Experts estimate the bill would cost the nearly bankrupt state an additional $20-30 million.

Illinois Catholics must unite now.

Earlier this year letters from every Illinois bishop were placed in bulletins across the state. A copy of the letter from Cardinal Cupich can be read here.

30 percent “much less likely” generally means the issue isn’t yet something that will “move” voters. We’ll see.

Also, the Catholic hierarchy strongly supported the tuition tax credit idea, which will cost the state $75 million that it doesn’t have every year.

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