Tribune / WGN-TV Poll Shows Blagojevich Continues to Battle Low Job Approval Rating

Tribune / WGN-TV Poll Shows Blagojevich Continues to Battle Low Job Approval Rating

CHICAGO, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Support for Gov. Rod Blagojevich among registered voters continues to hover below 40 percent, and only about one in three voters would like to see the Democratic governor re-elected next year, according to a new Tribune / WGN-TV poll. Complete story and poll results appear in the Monday, October 17, edition of the Chicago Tribune and online at chicagotribune.com.

The poll, conducted earlier this month, also shows state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka leading the pack of potential Republican candidates for governor.

Blagojevich's popularity among voters has changed little since a similar Tribune / WGN-TV poll taken in May. The new poll found 35 percent of voters said they would like to see Blagojevich re-elected -- comparable to the 33 percent who reported the same feelings in May.

Only 39 percent of voters said they approve of the job Blagojevich is doing as governor, while 42 percent disapprove. That's similar to the 35 percent job approval rating the governor had during the May poll, and it's far below the 52 percent of voters who said they approved of the job the governor was doing just over a year ago.

Several Republicans have announced their plans to run for governor in the March 21 primary, while others are considering a bid. The Tribune / WGN-TV poll found Topinka with the support of 31 percent of GOP voters in a six-way race. Her closest competitor was James Oberweis, who had the support of 15 percent of Republican voters. Topinka has not yet announced her plans for the election. Oberweis, a dairy owner and investment manager who has twice lost bids for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, has already launched his campaign.

Illinois voters included in the poll listed health care as one of their top issues. Despite Blagojevich's assertion that health care is his top priority, though, only about a third of voters polled were satisfied with his handling of the issue. Another third disapproved and the final third had no opinion.

The Tribune / WGN-TV poll of 700 general election voters was conducted Oct. 5-9 by Market Shares Corp. of Mt. Prospect has an error margin of 4 percentage points. The separate survey of 450 Republican primary voters has an error margin of 5 percentage points.

Chicago Tribune Company publishes the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper with daily readership of more than 2 million and nearly 3 million on Sunday. The company also operates related developing media businesses serving Chicagoland. Chicago Tribune is the founding publication of Tribune Company, one of the country's leading media companies, operating businesses in broadcasting, publishing and on the Internet.

Source: Chicago Tribune

CONTACT: Michael Dizon, +1-312-222-3165, for Chicago Tribune

Web site: http://chicagotribune.com/

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