Bailey clear frontrunner in Republican primary for Illinois governor: polls
CHICAGO - A voter opinion survey released Monday confirms State Sen. Darren Bailey is the new frontrunner in the June 28th Republican primary election.
The winner faces incumbent Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker this fall.
Pollster Ogden & Fry also found a very close contest between two GOP candidates for the nomination of Illinois attorney general. One is lawyer Thomas Devore. He represented Bailey and others in lawsuits challenging Pritzker’s pandemic emergency mandate orders.
North suburban lawyer Steve Kim, whose international business practice takes him to the Middle East and Asia, is in a seesaw battle with Devore.
An initial question found nearly 25% of voters favored Kim, with 21% for Devore and 45% undecided. After asking the undecided whom they would support if they had to choose, it was Devore 41.1% and Kim 40.6% — with a third candidate far behind both.
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Ogden & Fry’s Matt Podgorski, himself a Republican candidate for the Cook County Board, said, "In addition to polling all the statewide candidates, we asked the undecided voters to pick, (as) if they had to choose."
An unusually large number of Republican voters reported they’re undecided.
An astounding 51% of Republican voters were initially undecided in the race to replace Jesse White as Illinois Secretary of State. After asking them to choose, a total 65% favored Bloomington’s State Sen. Dan Brady; with 35% for John Milhiser, a former local and federal prosecutor.
The battle for governor, of course, draws the most attention. When asked whom they favor, Republicans initially responded: State Sen. Darren Bailey 31%; undecided 30%; Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin 17%; cryptocurrency entrepreneur Jesse Sullivan 11%; and paving contractor Gary Rabine 8%.
After asking the undecided to choose, Bailey jumped to 40%; Irvin to 24%; Sullivan 17%; and Rabine 12% — with two others in single digits.
North suburban lawyer Kathy Salvi was the only one in double digits among eight Republicans running for the nomination to face Democrat Tammy Duckworth. But 62% were undecided. After they were asked to choose, Salvi had 39%, more than double her closest competitor.
Ogden & Fry surveyed 662 likely Republican voters this past Saturday and Sunday. They were initially contacted via a text message that directed them to a website to participate in the survey. Samples of that size are generally considered accurate 95% of the time to within plus or minus 3.7 percent.
The survey asked nine questions. The second question was, "Who do you support for governor of Illinois?" Similar questions asked about preferences for U.S. Senate, attorney general and Secretary of State. Question number six was, "If you had to choose a candidate for governor today, who would you choose?"