From Rasmussen:
With leaners added in, Kirk picks up 41% of the vote, while Giannoulias earns 37% support. Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones, included for the first time in a Rasmussen Reports survey of the race, earns nine percent (9%). Five percent (5%) prefer another candidate in the race, and another nine percent (9%) are undecided.
Two weeks ago, when leaners were included in the totals, Kirk and Giannoulias were tied at 45% apiece. Leaners are those who initially indicate no preference for either of the candidates but answer a follow-up question and say they are leaning towards a particular candidate. From this point forward, Rasmussen Reports considers results with leaners the primary indicator of the race.
The contest in Illinois remains a Toss-Up in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Senate Balance of Power rankings.
If leaners are not included, Kirk has 37% support to Giannoulias’ 34% and Jones’ 12%, suggesting as is often the case that support moves away from third party candidates to one of the major party nominees as Election Day approaches. In the previous survey, Giannoulias captured 42% of the vote to Kirk’s 40% when voters were asked their initial preference…
Giannoulias is viewed favorably by 42% of Illinois voters and unfavorably by 44%.
For Kirk, favorables are 45%, and unfavorables are 39%.
Twenty-six percent (26%) have a favorable opinion of Jones, an African-American journalist, while 30% regard him unfavorably. But 44% don’t know enough about the Green Party candidate to venture any opinion of him.
VAGreen,
That’s impressive integrity, all too rare.
“Start the countdown for Democrats to pressure Jones to withdraw from the race (maybe offer Jones some job working for the Democratic candidate if he wins).”
You betcha! One of the Illinois Greens’ candidates was offered a $100,000 job sitting around doing nothing if he decided not to run for alderman in Chicago. He turned the Democratic machine down.
Start the countdown for Democrats to pressure Jones to withdraw from the race (maybe offer Jones some job working for the Democratic candidate if he wins).
He needs to drop out now, to prevent pro-choice Republican Mark Kirk (aka the antithesis of the Catholic Trotskyist Party) from winning this election. Now.
Without leaners he is polling 12%.
He needs to poll 10% to be in the debates.
Here it does say that 5% prefer “some other candidate.”
This poll is not very useful in one major aspect. Jones appears to be consolidating a protest vote against the two major parties here. When another poll included Libertarian Mike Labno, his support dropped to 6% (with Labno taking 3%).