Obama's poll puts him far ahead of Ryan
BY SCOTT FORNEK
Political Reporter With
less than seven months before the November election, Democratic Senate nominee Barack Obama is enjoying a
commanding double-digit lead over Republican rival Jack Ryan in a new poll
commissioned by the Democrat's campaign. Obama was leading Ryan 52 percent to 33
percent in the survey, which was conducted for Obama
in late March. The
survey is the first released since each man won his primary March 16. To
some degree, the numbers mirror the primary results. Obama,
42, a state senator from Vying
to become only the third African American elected to the U.S. Senate in the
last 100 years, Obama has enjoyed mostly positive
media coverage since his victory, with party leaders and pundits invariably
dubbing him "a rising star." Last week, a CNN reporter dubbed Obama a "rock star-esque
candidate." Ryan,
on the other hand, has been plagued by coverage dominated by his fight to keep
portions of his divorce records sealed. The Chicago Tribune and WLS-Channel 7
are asking a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge to make them all public. Reflecting
that coverage, voters were slightly more familiar with Ryan but liked Obama better in Obama's poll. Ryan
was known to 84 percent of voters, but only 31 percent had a positive view of
him, and 20 percent had a negative one. Obama was
known to 73 percent of voters, viewed positively by 45 percent and negatively
by 9 percent. And only 7 percent held very positive views of Ryan, compared
with 25 percent who liked Obama that much. That
could help Obama in trying to win over the 14 percent
of voters who said they were undecided between the two men. Also
boding well for Obama, his survey found he had greater
appeal to swing voters. Independents favor him over Ryan by a 3-2 ratio. Among
just Republicans, Obama had the support of 24
percent. Among just Democrats, Ryan only polled 11 percent. The
race was closer among white voters, with Obama
polling 47 percent to Ryan's 39 percent. Ryan was leading among Downstate white
voters. African Americans were united behind Obama,
with 87 percent choosing him over Ryan. The
numbers recall the 2000 gubernatorial election when a
CBS2/Chicago Sun-Times poll taken just days after that year's primary
found Democrat Rod Blagojevich leading Republican Jim Ryan, 52 percent to 34
percent. Blagojevich wound up defeating Jim Ryan, who is no relation to Jack
Ryan, 52 percent to 45 percent. Pete
Giangreco, a senior consultant to Obama's
campaign, called Obama's poll numbers "very
encouraging, especially that 17-point lead among independents. "It's
clear Illinoisans view Barack Obama
as a mainstream Democrat in the mode of Paul Simon. That puts him in good
stead," he said. "Clearly, Ryan's relatively high negatives have to
give Republicans pause. He did not come out of that primary in as strong a
position as I think they would have liked." But
Ryan spokeswoman Kelli Phiel
said the numbers come as no surprise. "The
Democratic primary didn't do very much to truly vet
Mr. Obama's policy choices and his views," she
said. "And we feel that once we have an opportunity to truly do that, and
Illinois voters realize how truly extremist liberal Mr. Obama
is and his commitment to . . . tax-and-spend failed policies, that we'll see a
turn in this race. "This
race hasn't even really begun." Copyright
© The Sun-Times Company ---
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