Mason-Dixon. 3/8-10. MoE 4% (January results)
Bush 39 (45)
Kerry 47 (37)
Nader 2 (-)
As might be expected, Kerry holds a huge lead, 58 percent to 29 percent, over Bush in heavily Democratic Chicago and Cook County. In the once heavily Republican collar counties -- Mason-Dixon considers them to be DuPage, McHenry, Lake, Will, Kankakee, Kane, Grundy and Kendall counties -- Bush leads, but only by a 48 to 39 percent margin. Bush leads 45 to 38 percent in central Illinois and 44 to 39 percent in southern Illinois.
Illinois is safely part of Kerry's base. If Illinois were to become competitive, we'd have already lost the election in other more competitive battleground states.