Quinn still unpopular in Illinois, Tribune poll finds

Quinn still unpopular in Illinois, Tribune poll finds


Only 3 in 10 voters approve of governor's job performance, while 54 percent disapprove

By Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune reporter
10:30 PM CST, February 9, 2012

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn finds his leadership under fire from Illinois voters unhappy with the state's economy, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.

The survey found 54 percent disapprove of Quinn's job performance, compared with only 30 percent who approve. It was the highest level of Quinn disapproval registered in Tribune polling since August 2009, seven months after he took over from an impeached Rod Blagojevich.

The dim view of Quinn comes a year after the governor and fellow Democrats steered Illinois in a more liberal direction by approving a major income-tax increase, abolishing the death penalty and legalizing civil unions. Despite the tax hike, state government remains mired in debt, limiting Quinn and legislative leaders' ability to move Illinois forward.

The governor, however, has shown great political resiliency. Quinn's approval rating is at its lowest level since early September 2010, when it registered at 28 percent. Weeks later, Quinn ended up narrowly winning the governor's election against conservative Republican state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington.

The poll of 600 registered voters, which has an error margin of 4 percentage points, was conducted Feb. 2-6. The interviews began a day after Quinn delivered an optimistic State of the State speech to lawmakers in Springfield in which he declared that after three years of his leadership, "Illinois is back on course. Illinois is moving forward. And Illinois is a place that we can be proud to claim as our own."

That's not the view many Illinoisans hold about the state's economy. About three-quarters of Illinois voters said they failed to see an improvement in Illinois' economy or thought that it is getting worse. Of that group, 88 percent disapproved of Quinn. The numbers prove the political adage that presidents and governors tend to wear the jacket for a down economy.

The general discontent with Quinn stretches across partisan, geographic, racial and gender lines.

The governor scores best within his own party, though the poll found fewer than half of those who identified themselves as Democrats approve of Quinn's job performance — 44 percent. But 61 percent of independent voters, always a key political demographic in statewide elections, expressed disapproval with his handling of the job.

In Democrat-dominated Chicago, only 43 percent of voters liked the job Quinn is doing, while 41 percent disapproved. In suburban Cook County, 45 percent of voters disapproved while 43 percent approved. In the collar counties, 57 percent didn't like Quinn's job performance, compared with only 27 percent who approved.

Quinn's numbers were even more dismal among voters outside the six-county Chicago metropolitan area: 65 percent disapproved while only 18 percent approved. The disapproval numbers outside the metro area and in the collar counties are the worst recorded in Tribune polling on Quinn since he became governor.

Among African-American voters, a key Democratic constituency, Quinn's support was soft at 48 percent, with 35 percent of blacks surveyed disapproving.

Among voters who called themselves liberals, Quinn's approval rating was 49 percent. But among those who called themselves moderates or conservatives, clear majorities disapproved of Quinn's governance.

The survey also found 60 percent of men and 50 percent of women were unhappy with Quinn's leadership. That includes 43 percent of white suburban women, a socially moderate voting demographic credited in part with the Democratic governor's 2010 election victory because of his Republican opponent's socially conservative views.

Since the election, Quinn agreed to a 67 percent increase in the state's personal income-tax rate, a larger tax hike than he supported during the campaign. During a lame-duck session after the election, lawmakers approved a ban on the death penalty and a bill allowing same-sex couples to get civil unions. The two measures staked out new territory for the state on long-standing controversial social and cultural issues. The governor signed both bills into law.

The higher personal and corporate income taxes have not erased Illinois' budget problems. The state still has billions of dollars in unpaid bills to providers of state services such as health care to the poor. A public employee pension debt eats away more and more of what money the state does have to spend.

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