Todd's Troubles Continue

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Dec 11, 2009 5:00PM

With the February 2 primary fast approaching, Todd Stroger find himself at the wrong end of a new WGN/Tribune poll. The new poll, which surveyed 502 "likely voters" found Circuit Clerk Dorothy Brown in the lead with 29 percent, followed by Ald. Toni Preckwinkle who had 20 percent of the support. Stroger came in third with 14 percent, just ahead of Metropolitan Water Reclamation District president Terrence O'Brien (11 percent). A quarter of those polled claimed to be undecided. Adding to Stroger's problems is the low 16 percent approval rating he received as part of the poll, just barely an increase over the last approval rating he got from a Trib poll. As for the other candidates, it seemed the biggest obstacle for Preckwinkle and O'Brien was recognition; only 62 percent of those polled knew Ald. Preckwinkle and O'Brien's recognition rate was about 50 percent. As for the hot-button issue of race in this election, the Trib reports:

...Brown and Preckwinkle each received support from about a quarter of white voters, with another quarter undecided. O'Brien gets about 17 percent of the white vote while Stroger only gets 3 percent, the poll found. Among African-American voters Brown and Stroger each get about 30 percent support while Preckwinkle gets 17 percent...

The survey showed that 81 percent of white voters had an unfavorable impression of Stroger, while black voters were equally split -- 35 percent favorable and 35 percent unfavorable, with 29 percent having no opinion.

The poll found 42 percent of Stroger supporters said race was a factor in their choice -- far above the 16 percent who said it was a factor in selecting Brown, 14 percent for O'Brien and 11 percent for Preckwinkle.