I know, I know, least surprising breaking news ever. But since the terrorist-endorsing local rag decided to put the poll results on the front page this morning, I felt entitled...
For those who care about the top-line results, it's 56-32 Obama-McCain. That utterly unshocking result aside, there are some interesting bits in the internals...
(full poll results in this PDF.)
First off is the geographical distribution of Obama's support:
Obama has a 72 percent to 19 percent advantage in Cook County including Chicago. But in the Republican-leaning collar counties, Obama's advantage narrows to 47 percent to 39 percent over McCain. In the state's remaining 96 counties, Obama's numbers shrink to a questionable lead, 45 percent to 41 percent.
Cook County is Chicago plus some of the surrounding suburbs. The collar counties make up the rest of the Chicago area. The remaining counties tend to be what Sarah Palin would describe as "real America"; large amounts of agriculture, small towns, and no major cities until you cross the state line and reach St. Louis. Population wise, Cook County has about 45% of the state, the collar counties another 20 or so, and the remaining 35% are spread out across the downstate counties. Unsurprisingly, the bulk of Obama's statewide support comes from his complete dominance in Cook. Cue the GOP screaming about the "Daley Machine". This of course has an impact on the downticket races; Dan Seals in IL-10 is much more likely to benefit from a strong coat-tail effect than someone running in one of the downstate districts.
What are the issues that people care about?
The economy was by far the No. 1 concern of voters across the state. A total of 57 percent named it the top issue of the presidential race, with affordable health care second at 14 percent. Terrorism and the Iraq War were the top concerns for only a fraction of the voters.
The print version of the story also had a nice graphic showing that Obama voters were more likely to rate the economy as their top concern. A significant number of McCain voters did as well, but there were also big chunks who cited "Moral issues" and "the war on terror" as their number one issue. (no numbers, unfortunately. My copy of the print edition is at home in the recycling bag). All that the web version has is this:
While 65 percent of those supporting Obama chose the economy as their top concern, only 40 percent who plan to vote for McCain did the same.
More McCain supporters focused on the economy than any other issue, but significant numbers said personal moral beliefs or the terrorism threat to the nation were their main concerns.
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And what about the veeps?
Regardless of their preference for president, 68 percent of Illinois voters said they believed Biden, a 36-year senator, was more qualified to assume the duties of president. Only 19 percent selected Palin, a first-term governor and former mayor.
Even Republicans think that Biden is a better choice to be vice president. Only half of John McCain's supporters think that she's more qualified. Now admittedly, I'm somewhat surprised that anyone could think that she's more qualified, but I'm not exactly a McCain voter, so I'm the wrong person to ask for an opinion on this matter.
So, no real shockers, but an interesting snapshot of a state that Obama will win in a big way.
-dms