A new poll of Republican gubernatorial candidates in Illinois shows farmer and state Rep. Darren Bailey holding a sizeable lead over his closest opponent, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin.
The Chicago Sun-Time and WBEZ Poll found that Bailey held the largest share of support from likely Republican primary voters in the state, followed by Irvin, and candidate Jesse Sullivan:
- Bailey: 32%
- Irvin: 17%
- Sullivan: 11%
- Gary Rabine: 6%
- Paul Schimpf: 4%
- Not sure: 27%
The Sun-Times notes that if Bailey were to win the nomination, "it would represent a brutal repudiation by Illinois’ Republican voters of Irvin," who has several endorsements from prominent members of the party and the support of Chicago hedge fund tycoon Ken Griffen.
The newspaper also states that the poll was conducted less than a week after the second televised debate between the candidates, in which Irvin was subject to several attacks by his rivals.
The poll also found that most voters ranked the economy as their most important issue, followed by crime and corruption:
- Economy: 44%
- Crime: 11%
- Corruption: 11%
- Taxes: 10%
- Second Amendment Issues: 9%
- Abortion: 8%
- Something else or not sure: 5%
- COVID-19 mitigations: 1%
The Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ Poll was conducted by Public Policy Polling and surveyed 677 likely Republican primary voters in Illinois from June 6-7 with a margin of error of +/- 3.8 percentage points.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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