U. S. Senate race wide open, Jackson assumes lead

once candidates introduced to voters

CHICAGO – The campaign for Cheryle Jackson released today the results of a poll that shows nearly half of the voters in the Democratic Primary for U. S. Senate are undecided, and Jackson quickly moves from second place to first once voters are introduced to the candidates’ messages and qualifications. The poll of 500 likely primary voters was conducted from November 3 through November 5 by D. C. -- based Lake Research Partners.

“In short, polling shows that Cheryle Jackson is a frontrunner in the race for Illinois’ open U.S. Senate seat. With just three short months until the primary, Jackson is the only candidate poised to make significant gains once the campaigns start communicating with voters. Giannoulias, already having converted much of his existing personal affect into vote, is unable to capitalize further on his name ID advantage. While Cheryle Jackson more than doubles her support after voters are introduced to her in a competitive environment, additional exposure for Giannoulias actually leaves him with fewer votes than he begins with. The data reveal that Cheryle Jackson alone has the momentum to win the race to fill President Obama’s Senate seat,” said Celinda Lake in a memo to the campaign.

The poll shows that among voters who express a preference for the gender of their next Senator, a woman is preferred to a man by a substantial margin of more than 3:1. Fifty-eight percent of primary voters and 60 percent of undecided voters are women. Jackson is the only woman in the race.

Even though Giannoulias is a sitting office holder, 29 percent of voters have no opinion of him. Twenty-four percent have never heard of him. Nearly as many rate his performance as Treasurer negatively (30% “just fair”/”poor”) as positively (36% “excellent”/”good”), and undecided voters are solidly negative on his performance as Treasurer (16% “excellent”/”good” to 33% “just fair”/”poor”).

“While Giannoulias converts much of his existing name identification into votes, he appears already to have maximized his potential in that regard,” said Lake in the memo.

“David Hoffman and Jacob Meister both appear to be non-factors in this race. Neither candidate is well known, neither starts out with significant support, and neither makes noticeable gains in support after being introduced to the voters.”