* Another day, another bad news poll for Gov. Pat Quinn. Today’s result is from Rasmussen. Its early March results are in parentheses, preceded by yesterday’s Public Policy Polling results…

Bill Brady 45% (43%, 47%)
Pat Quinn 38% (33%, 37%)
Some Other Candidate 6% (N/A, 7%)
Not sure 9% (24%, 10%)

From the pollster…

Both candidates barely eked out victories in hard-fought party nomination battles. But Brady can already claim support from 78% of his GOP base, while Quinn attracts only 64% of Democrats… Voters not affiliated with either of the parties prefer Brady to Quinn by better than three-to-one.

* From the toplines…

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?

38% Strongly approve
20% Somewhat approve (Total: 58%)
6% Somewhat disapprove
35% Strongly disapprove (Total: 41%)
1% 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?

9% Strongly approve
34% Somewhat approve (Total: 43%)
23% Somewhat disapprove
33% Strongly disapprove (Total: 56%)
2% Not sure

That’s a much higher approval rating for Quinn than PPP’s 25 percent. The difference may be due to Rasmussen offering intensity choices, while PPP just offered straight up approve/disapprove choices.

* Favorables…

Quinn is viewed very favorably by 13% of Illinois voters, while 28% view him very unfavorably. Just five percent (5%) have no opinion of the governor.

Nineteen percent (19%) have a very favorable view of Brady, and nearly as many (15%) regard him very unfavorably. But nearly one-out-of-five voters (18%) don’t know enough about him to have any kind of opinion.

At this point in a campaign, Rasmussen Reports considers the number of people with strong opinions more significant than the total favorable/unfavorable numbers.

* Other questions…

Some people believe a federal law requiring every American to buy or obtain health insurance is unconstitutional. Some states have announced that they will sue the federal government to fight that requirement. Would you favor or oppose having your state sue the federal government to prevent it from becoming law?
40% Favor
47% Oppose
13% Not sure

Generally speaking, how would you rate the U.S. economy these days? Excellent, good, fair, or poor?
1% Excellent
8% Good
40% Fair
50% Poor
1% Not sure

Are economic conditions in the country getting better or worse?
36% Better
33% Worse
24% Staying the same
7% Not sure

Rasmussen puts the “should the state sue the federal government to overturn health care law” question into a national context…

Just 40% of Illinois voters think the state should sue the federal government, while 47% oppose the idea.

Nationally, 49% of voters favor their states suing the federal government over that requirement in the health care plan. Thirty-even percent (37%) oppose such a suit.

Methodology…

Illinois Survey of 500 Likely Voters Conducted April 5, 2010. Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence

Thoughts?