* I told you yesterday that, at my request, Public Policy Polling tested House Speaker Michael Madigan’s favorables…

Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Michael Madigan?
18% Favorable
52% Unfavorable
30% Not sure

Oof.

* Favorable ratings are different than job approval ratings, but take a look at these results from a Paul Simon Public Policy Institute poll taken September 8 through October 9, 2009…

40.4% Approve
42.6% Disapprove
17.1% No opinion

Again, faves and job approves are different types of ratings, but it seems pretty clear to me that Madigan is on a downward spiral. No surprise, considering all the bad press he’s received and the mess this state is in. The Tribune has been calling for his head on an almost weekly basis for months, including yesterday…

If you don’t like the way Mike Madigan runs this state, you can’t vote him out. He even engineered his own Republican opponent on the ballot.

That doesn’t mean the rank and file are innocent bystanders. If you’re not convinced your local lawmaker is working hard to bust the status quo — you can check our candidate questionnaires for guidance — then go ahead, throw the bum out. Insist that your lawmaker commit to a fair electoral map, or term limits, or both. And send a message to Madigan and Cullerton: Give us competitive elections, or get out.

Madigan is far better known than he used to be, and people don’t like what they’re seeing.

* Let’s drill down into the PPP poll, shall we? Even his own party members don’t care for the guy…

This crosses racial lines as well…

What jumped out at me in the age crosstab is that the people who know about him the most like him less…

* And so it’s no surprise that an audience would react like this during a legislative candidates debate last night…

Many jeered when Flider, asked for whom he would vote for speaker of the House, answered with: “It’s hard to say who you’re going to vote for for speaker of the House when you don’t know who’s running.”

Although, they could’ve also booed because Rep. Fllider was insulting their intelligence. I don’t blame them. Still, notice how Flider - who’s getting a shipload of Madigan money this season - ran away from the Speaker as best he could.

It’s no wonder that Madigan is spending money in his own district.