PI Original Josh Kalven Tuesday March 10th, 2009, 8:24am

The Five Percent Option (UPDATED)

The Sun-Times teases out more details from the recent Zogby International poll sponsored by the Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois.  The latest findings relate to Sen. Roland Burris' reelection prospects in 2010 and they aren't pretty: Only 5.3 percent of ...

The Sun-Times teases out more details from the recent Zogby International poll sponsored by the Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois.  The latest findings relate to Sen. Roland Burris' reelection prospects in 2010 and they aren't pretty:

Only 5.3 percent of likely Democratic voters said they would cast their ballot for the embattled senator, putting him far behind Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and Comptroller Dan Hynes, who collected 28.1 and 26.8 percent, respectively.

Ouch.  To put that five percent figure in context, let's flashback to a Research 2000 poll conducted in late January, shortly after Burris was sworn in, which found him garnering 26 percent of the vote in a hypothetical Democratic primary.  That Burris has since fallen into the single digits shouldn't come as a surprise.  The glaring omissions in his original affidavit to the House impeachment committee and his flippant response to the ensuing uproar clearly did him in.

A little over a week ago, Sen. Dick Durbin had this to say of Burris on local TV: "I don't think he's electable."  That conclusion appears to be borne out by these poll numbers.

Meanwhile, Giannoulias' 28 percent showing in the Zogby poll is interesting, considering that the same Research 2000 poll from late January had him at 10 percent.

Finally, check out these gubernatorial numbers:

Attorney General Lisa Madigan fared favorably in the Democratic race for governor in 2010 as she took in 41 percent of the vote while Gov. Pat Quinn clocked in at 29.5 percent.

Numbers like this are sure to embolden Madigan as she considers challenging Quinn next year.  But the question that remains is this: What would be motivating force of her campaign?  And more specifically, what issues could she possibly run against him on?  

UPDATE (1:30 p.m., 6/29/2010): The DailyKos, who commissioned a poll mentioned in this article, has renounced all of their polling conducted through Research 2000.

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