"Ticket Splitters" Determined Illinois Elections

By Chuck Sudo in News on Nov 6, 2010 3:30PM

While folks in Southern Illinois are busy blaming Chicago for Bill Brady's defeat in he race for Governor, ballot experts have narrowed the focus to "ticket splitters," those folks who don't always vote straight party. 2 percent of Illinois voters chose Pat Quinn for Governor and Mark Kirk for Senator on election night.

The reasons? Character and the influence of attack ads. Kirk's campaign ads painting opponent Alexi Giannoulias as a "mob banker" who also lost the pensions of thousands of Illinois children in the Bright Start program resonated with voters on Election Day. Many voters felt that Giannoulias was "too slick" and that their votes for Kirk were more being anti-Alexi than pro-Kirk.

Conversely, voters felt that Quinn, with his visits to military families whenever an Illinois veteran was killed in action in Afghanistan or Iraq, and his consumer advocacy resume that started with founding the Citizens Utility Board, made him more genuine sounding that Brady. Suburban women who split their tickets also indicated that Brady's position on abortion and his dissenting vote on a measure which would have prevented insurance carriers to not cover mammograms swayed them toward Quinn.