When the Good News is Still Really Bad

Yesterday’s Rasmussen release gave Rod a 16% approval and below Bush.  IWU’s poll has him above Bush by 2%, but at 23%.  Rasmussen is usually a little higher on approval for Republicans than other polls so the two aren’t that much in conflict–which is exactly the right number is hard to say, but none of these numbers are in the good range.

Generic Congressional questions are fraught with problems, but this is still interesting:

5. If the upcoming elections for the U.S. Congress were being held today, who would you like to see win in your district, the Democratic candidate or the Republican candidate?
49%  Democratic candidate  27% Republican candidate  24% Undecided/NR

8. How convinced are you that global warming or the greenhouse effect is actually  happening – would you say you are completely convinced, mostly convinced, not so convinced or not at all convinced?
34%   completely convinced     32%  mostly convinced
16%   not so convinced             13%  not at all convinced
5%     undecided/other/NR

It’s fascinating that Romney isn’t doing well here, though Illinois voters are still tuning out the election.

19. Although the presidential primaries for 2008 are still a few months away, if the  choice among Republican candidates was between John McCain, Rudy Giuiliani,   Mitt  Romney, Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee, who would you like to see win the  Republican nomination?
21% McCain    23%  Giuiliani  9%  Romney  9% Thompson
6% Huckabee   4% OTHER – specify_______________________________
29%  Undecided/No Response

Some of the lowest numbers in Illinois polls I’ve seen for Obama

20.  On the Democratic side, if the choice were between Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards, who would you like to see win the Democratic nomination?
26%  Clinton     36% Obama   16% Edwards
5% OTHER – please specify______________________________________
18% Undecided/No Response

The thing about Blagojevich is he doesn’t seem to be a drag on the party in general–largely because just about everyone hates him.  Obviously Morganthaler will have a tougher time distancing herself from him, but pretty much he doesn’t seem to be hurting anyone else or progressive issues in Illinois.
Conducted by Illinois Wesleyan University
Department of Political Science
October 15 – 18, 2007
Sample Size  N = 395  (Confidence Interval +/- 5%)