* A new poll by Rasmussen Reports shows the US Senate race all tied up. Results in brackets are from July 26, July 7, June 7, April 28, April 5, March 8 and February 3…
Kirk earns support from 76% of Republicans, while Giannoulias is backed by 70% of Democrats. Kirk leads by better than two-to-one lead among voters not affiliated with either major political party in Illinois. […]
Kirk is viewed Very Favorably by 10% of Illinois voters and Very Unfavorably by 20%, up six points over the past two weeks.
Giannoulias’ ratings are 11% Very Favorable, up four points from late July, and 28% Very Unfavorable, also up slightly from the previous survey.
At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with strong opinions more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.
Fifty-four percent (54%) of voters in the state approve of the job Obama is doing as president, while 46% disapprove. This level of support has held steady in recent months and is well above Obama’s approval ratings nationally in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.
Kirk’s “Very Unfavorable” upward movement has to be troubling for that campaign. The crosstabs have Giannoulias leading among moderates by six points.
* Other questions…
* How would you rate the job Barack Obama has been doing as President… do you strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove, or strongly disapprove of the job he’s been doing?
35% Strongly approve
19% Somewhat approve
9% Somewhat disapprove
37% Strongly disapprove
0% Not sure
* How would you rate the job Pat Quinn has been doing as Governor… do you strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove, or strongly disapprove of the job he’s been doing?
10% Strongly approve
26% Somewhat approve
23% Somewhat disapprove
37% Strongly disapprove
3% Not sure
The survey of 750 Likely Voters in Illinois was conducted on August 9, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/-4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
* Meanwhile, the Libertarian Party may make it onto the ballot here…
Looks like a Libertarian will join Democrat Alexi Giannoulias and Republican Mark Kirk on the November U.S. Senate ballot.
The word from insiders in both major parties is that the Libertarian Party’s Michael Labno has pretty well fended off challenges to his nominating petitions, throwing a potential curve into what is now viewed as a very tight race.
Sources say the electrical construction project manager now has several thousand ballot signatures more than he needs, and while a few more days are left for further action, the State Board of Elections is about done.
Mr. Labno, who was not available for comment, is a pretty conservative fellow who should please both Tea Party anti-government types and social conservatives.
That could be quite interesting. The conservative Constitution Party is barely holding on. We’ll know more next week.
