New polls offer hope to both Chicago mayoral candidates

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Several new polls offer hope to both candidates in the race for mayor. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has a comfortable lead over his opponent in one poll, but in another poll of Latino voters, challenger Jesus "Chuy" Garcia shows strong support.

Campaign managers on both sides want their troops to ignore pre-election surveys and concentrate on getting their voters to the polls. Beginning Monday, the mayor is hoping one of the city's largest labor unions will help his effort to get that done.

Unite Here, which represents as many as 15,000 hotel workers, could be Emanuel's most important union endorsement. Not only do most of the members live in Chicago, the union bought television time for its "Rahm Love" testimonials.

The mayor, whose $20 million campaign war chest includes donations from Republicans - like the state's wealthiest resident, billionaire Ken Griffin - took pride in the help from working people.

"None of the these people look like Ken Griffin to me. They look like the people that are building a Chicago," Emanuel said.

Minutes earlier there was bad news for the Emanuel campaign: an independent survey of Latino voters showed 61 percent of respondents favored Garcia to Emanuel's 18 percent, with 21 percent undecided.

"They're voting for Chuy not because he happens to be Latino but because he's a neighborhood guy," 22nd Ward Ald. Ricardo Munoz said.

Munoz, a Garcia supporter, dismissed last weekend's Odgen and Fry poll that showed the mayor with a 16 point lead.

"Traditional polling companies always miss the beat on the Latino community," Munoz said.

"I think turnout is going to be much higher than it was in February," said Marisel Hernandez, Chicago Board of Elections.

After the first hour on a snowy morning, the Chicago Election Board reported over 1,000 city residents had early-voted, casting ballots at 51 different polling places.

"If you need to register for the first time or if you need to update your name and/or address on your registration, you may use any one of our 51 early voting sites to do so," Hernandez said.

The election board also reports that as of Monday morning, 35,000 voters had mailed in ballots as that process continues for people who cannot get to a polling place.

Both sides expect that turnout for the runoff will exceed the 33 percent who cast ballots in the February election- but which candidate the higher turnout helps or hurts depends on where the voters turn out.