Ogden & Fry's latest survey on Chicago's mayoral runoff contest shows that Mayor Rahm Emanuel continues to hold a double-digit lead over his challenger Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garica.
Emanuel captured 47.6 percent of the likely voters' support in the poll to Garcia's 34.2 percent. About 18 percent of the 904 respondents were undecided in the survey, conducted Saturday. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.33 percent.
An Ogden & Fry mayoral runoff survey conducted Friday without an "undecided" option showed Emanuel polling at 57.9 percent, trailed by Garcia at 42.1 percent. The Friday poll of 1,101 respondents has a margin or error of plus or minus 3.01 percent.
Ogden & Fry's polling memo notes that "Emanuel has slowly been pulling away from Garcia since the municipal elections," adding that TV ads are playing a role in the mayoral runoff contest. Garcia's more recent TV ads come "after much damage was caused" by Emanuel's commercials attacking Garcia, the memo says.
"Garcia will need his offer to eliminate red light cameras or new messages to resonate with voters to make the race more competitive," the polling memo adds. "Garcia does have the advantage that Hispanic voters under-poll. The Garcia campaign claims they are under-represented by 10-14 points, however eight of the nine wards with fewer early voters are Hispanic-majority wards."