SRINGFIELD — President Joe Biden’s approval rating is underwater in Illinois for the first time, according to a new poll. A plurality of Illinois voters have an unfavorable opinion of the job Biden is doing as President (47.9 percent) compared to those who have a favorable opinion (44.5 percent).
Still, in a hypothetical re-match of the 2020 Presidential election, the Democratic President would defeat former President Trump in Illinois 49.0-40.8 percent. Voters who favored a different candidate besides Biden or Trump made up 7.2 percent, and 3.0 percent were undecided. In last November’s election, Biden defeated Trump in Illinois by 17 points. The final Illinois Poll prior to that election showed Biden’s margin to be 15.9 points.
The results are part of the latest Illinois poll, conducted November 14-17, 2021. It is a semi-monthly survey conducted since 2001 by Victory Research, an independent polling company based in Chicago. The poll of 1208 likely Illinois voters has a margin of error of 2.82 percent and was conducted by live callers. Respondents answered on land lines (572) and cell phones (636). www.illinoispoliticsblog.com
The first-term President leads Trump in heavily Democratic-Chicago (82.5-13.4 percent) and also in vote rich Suburban Cook County (50.4-36.4 percent). Trump leads in every other geographic region: Collar counties (46.0-43.0 percent), Northern Illinois (53.1-36.9 percent), Central Illinois (52.2-35.7 percent), and Southern Illinois (52.3-37.5 percent).
Biden holds an overwhelming lead among traditionally Democratic African-American voters (82.3-9.0 percent) and Latino voters (61.2-29.5 percent). Trump led among white voters (48.8-40.8 percent), according to the poll.