From the good people at Capital Fax Blog, we bring you this Rasmussen Reports poll of Illinois:
BUSH TOTALS: 31% good or excellent… 68% fair or poor… (32 and 67 in Rasmussen’s August poll)
BLAGOJEVICH TOTALS: 16% good or excellent… 83% fair or poor… (22 and 78 in Rasmussen’s August poll)
Those are terrible numbers for both the President and Governor, but much, much worse for the Governor. I don't know if it's possible to recover from numbers like that.
For some context, this is from November 2002, just as Blagojevich was winning election for the first time, and Ryan was just getting ready to leave office:
Arguably, there have been other defining moments in Ryan’s tumultuous four years as governor. But after that statement at the mansion, after Bauer was convicted, Ryan’s job approval ratings plummeted to historic lows, never to rebound. A proud man, Ryan chose not to run for re-election. In August, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his disapproval rating was 69 percent.
The results aren't exactly analagous, as the questions aren't worded the same way, but it's probably safe to say that Blagojevich's approval is in George Ryan territory.
One thing that I do know that if I were a Democratic candidate on the ballot in 2008, I'd be nervous about my opponent tying me to the Governor. I think we'll see lots of "Democrat X is close to Blago" and "Republican Y is close to Bush" attacks next year regardless.
There are also Presidential head-to-head matchups in Illinois (although there are no interparty results):
- Clinton - 45%
- Giuliani - 42%
And:
- Clinton - 47%
- Thompson - 40%
Of course, Sen. Obama clobbers everyone in Illinois. There are some other issue-related questions in the poll, too, so read the whole thing.
Governor Lisa Madigan --- I'll bet $100 on it if anyone is a taker.
Tom Cross had his chance but blew it not playing ball with the Hamos transit bill. The party cannot not operate here as it does in other redder states. It needs 30-35% of racial minorities to win and/or a bigger incursion (in the land between the airports and the lakefront) in the City of Chicago. whether it gets them through swag (Ryan-SOS office), indifference to illegal immigration, or keeping cityphiles content with their transit service.
the GOP can win without Chicago, but it has to kick butt in the burbs to do so. that hasn't happened in a while. Doing things, like bailing out chicago mass transit, won't help in the burbs, and probably won't win many votes in Chicago either
rsw,
mass transit is critical to the burbs also. the metra goes all the way out to DeKalb now.
"Doing things, like bailing out chicago mass transit, won't help in the burbs, and probably won't win many votes in Chicago either"
I disagree. Bailing out the CTA will be very popular in both the suburbs and City, as long as taxes aren't increased and fares aren't increased. That is, of course, part of the problem. Gambling isn't seen as a great solution either, at least according to this poll.
as long as taxes aren't increased and fares aren't increased.
Ah ha! There's the rub :-)
and in CU, you can buy votes by throwing a bunch of money at the U of I without increasing taxes too, but spending with no revenue = no money in pension fund
Well, to be more specific - the funding bailout for CTA is very popular. Paying for said bailout is much less popular. Everybody wants something for nothing.
And providing everyone something for nothing is no way to be a Republican
Typo fixed in title - sorry about that.