* The reporting on yesterday’s PPP poll has been somewhat breathless…

Reports are coming out that Pat Quinn is the least popular governor in the country.

according to a survey that came out Thursday, only one in four Illinois voters approves of Quinn’s job performance.

The liberal-leaning Public Policy Polling firm found that 64 percent of voters disapprove of the work Quinn is doing, making him “the most unpopular governor [it] has polled on anywhere in the country this year.”

The firm reports that, if the general election were held today, Quinn would lose to state Sen. Kirk Dillard (R) by a margin of 44 to 37 percent, and to state Treasurer Dan Rutherford (R) by 43 to 39 percent.

* More…

“Quinn’s unpopularity puts the Republicans in a position where they could win despite the fact that none of them are very well-known,” said Tom Jensen, director of Public Policy Polling.

An aide to Quinn defended his tenure and acknowledged that his efforts to deal with difficult subjects, such as Medicaid reform, facility closures and tax increases, have not been popular — but are in the best interests of state government.

* OK, here’s Real Clear Politics’ poll tracker for the 2010 general. As you can see, the average had him losing to Bill Brady by almost five points…

In October, the Tribune had Quinn trailing by four points and Rasmussen and PPP had him down by five.

On October 12th, 2010 - just a few weeks before the election - Quinn’s job approval was measured at 26 percent by the Tribune’s pollster. That’s just a point higher than PPP’s latest poll.

In other words, we’ve seen this movie before.