illinois budget

Poll: Chicago voters disapprove of Rauner, Madigan

Saturday, June 11, 2016

A new poll shows Chicago voters do not approve of the job that Governor Bruce Rauner is doing. But legislative leaders didn't fare so well, either.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A new poll shows Chicago voters do not approve of the job that Governor Bruce Rauner is doing. But legislative leaders didn't fare so well, either.

At a South Side event for homeless veterans on Friday, many attendees were not impressed by Gov. Rauner.

"He's just as dumb as Donald Trump. (Really?) In my opinion," said Arthur Brinson, a veteran.

"I don't feel that he's honoring the state nor us veterans by being out here when there's work to be done down at the Capitol," said Sherman Bailey, a veteran.

Seventeen months into his term - the last 11 without a budget - Rauner's job approval rating is underwater.

An Illinois Observer poll found nearly 55 percent of those surveyed disapprove, just under 32 percent approve, with 13.5 percent undecided.

"I don't blame anybody in the state who's just very frustrated, very upset, very angry with the failure to get results," Rauner said.

Rauner's principal adversary, Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan, has even worse numbers with a nearly 65 percent disapproval rating in the same survey.

"Everybody's responsible. The problem has been accumulating for a long time," said Karen Boyaris of Morton Grove.

Illinois Observer Publisher David Ormsby said when people were asked who to blame for the budget impasse the governor and venerable speaker were in a dead heat with longtime Democratic Senate President John Cullerton a distant third.

"Most voters are making up their minds," said Ormsby. "The Governor has only been on the scene for 18 months and he's managed to rack up job disapproval numbers comparable to Speaker Madigan's. So that's quite a political feat for a newcomer."

"The system's broken and I'm trying to change a broken system through and with the very people who created the system," said Rauner.

The Governor says he'll spend the weekend in the Chicago region because this is where all the legislative leaders live and he'd like to meet with them. Early next week it's back to Springfield and hoping lawmakers return to work.