Gov. JB Pritzker holds significant lead over Darren Bailey: Illinois Broadcasters Association poll

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A brand new poll shows that Gov. JB Pritzker may be expanding his lead over Republican challenger Darren Bailey in the next month's election.

Heading into the home stretch, Pritzker remains comfortably in front in the governor race, with Bailey perhaps even losing some ground.

The poll asked 1,000 likely voters who they would vote for. The results showed Pritzker leading by 22 percentage points. A total of 49.7% of respondents said they would vote for Pritzker and 27.7% said they would vote for Bailey. That's even larger than a poll last week, which showed Pritzker leading by 15%.

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"It's really bad news for Darren Bailey. At this point in the campaign, he should be shrinking the lead, not seeing it grow. Pritzker's putting some distance between himself and Bailey, significant distance and it would be very difficult, if this poll is accurate for Bailey to make up that ground in the next few weeks," said ABC7 Political Analyst Laura Washington.

The Bailey campaign scoffed at those latest numbers and said their own internal polling shows the race is much closer.

"This is not a legitimate poll. It's an internet survey and anyone who cares about honest journalism would do a better job of disseminating information to the people. Our polling shows this race is close because JB Pritzker has failed Illinoisans. Darren Bailey is focused on making Illinois safer and more affordable for everyone and we're confident voters will choose a better direction for Illinois on Election Day," said Bailey's campaign spokesperson, Joe DeBose.

Other polling numbers showed Attorney General Kwame Raoul with a significant lead over his Republican challenger Tom Devore, 43% to 25%. And in the race for U.S. Senate, Democrat Tammy Duckworth also has a big lead over her Republican challenger, Kathy Salvi, 48% to 29%

JB Pritzker's coattails and wallet could be a big factor.

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"The Democrats have been in control, they're in charge and they dominate. I think that that's an indication that they are continuing to dominate. JB Pritzker also brings a lot of resources. He's a billionaire, and he's bringing a lot of money to all these campaigns and giving them a huge leg up on their competitors," Washington said.

The Bailey campaign said they are very encouraged by their own internal data, which they say shows the race is not widening, but actually getting tighter. Their polls from this past weekend suggested Pritzker has only a single digit lead.