The Illinois Senate race remains very close.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Illinois finds Democrat Alexi Giannoulias with 43% support to Republican Mark Kirk’s 41%. Six percent (6%) prefer some other candidate, and 10% are undecided.
Both men have been battling ethics questions for weeks. Thirty-one percent (31%) of Illinois voters now rate Giannoulias as less ethical than most politicians, and 21% say the same of Kirk.
Voters tend to grade politicians on a curve and most Illinois voters still say both men are at least as ethical as most politicians. For Giannoulias, 52% hold that view including eight percent (8%) who say the Democrat is more ethical than most of his political peers.
For Kirk, the numbers are only slightly better. Sixty percent (60%) say his ethics are at least as good as most politicians while 10% view him as more ethical.
Earlier this month, Giannoulias, the state’s current treasurer, led Kirk, a U.S. congressman, 40% to 39%.
Barring Kirk getting a right wing challenger he’s down to his base support and probably can’t fall anymore. So the fall battle is set with 20% of the voters up fro grabs. Alexi is going to have to step up findraising to ensure Kirk can’t be the one to solely define Alexi in paid media, but there is still a month before the typical voters pay any attention.