McKenna, Ryan, Dillard Atop Republican Governor Field
The Chicago Tribune
Rick Pearson
January 22, 2010
In addition to Hynes' attack ads, Quinn also has been targeted by McKenna, the most prolific advertiser on the Republican side. McKenna's ad blitz helped him achieve support from 19 percent of Republican voters compared to 18 percent for Elmhurst's Ryan and 14 percent for Dillard, of Hinsdale.
Another 9 percent backed state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington, while Hinsdale transparency advocate Adam Andrzejewski had 7 percent and Chicago political pundit Dan Proft had 6 percent. Another 17 percent were undecided in the survey of 592 likely Republican primary voters.
DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom of Naperville, who had 2 percent support in the survey, dropped out of the race Friday and announced he's backing Ryan.
McKenna and Ryan are strongest in Chicago and the suburbs, where each has support from more than one in five voters surveyed. Dillard has the backing of 22 percent of downstate voters, but lags in his home base.
Weeks ago, Ryan, the unsuccessful 2002 Republican nominee against disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was the frontrunner in the contest with 26 percent support, largely from being the most well-known.
Ryan has denied he was coasting on his lead, but he hasn't been the most visible campaigner. Still, his familiarity among voters has kept his candidacy viable against more moneyed opponents. McKenna, meanwhile, has increased his name recognition among GOP voters to 84 percent from 67 percent in the previous survey.
Dillard, whose money woes led him to seek campaign cash from controversial conservative activist Jack Roeser, made the most headway in name recognition. He moved from being known by little more than half of GOP voters to 81 percent of them. Dillard, who saw his support increase slightly from 9 percent in the last survey, also is being backed by the Illinois Education Association, a powerful teachers union that has sought a tax increase to bolster funding for schools and pensions.
More than 85 percent of Republican voters still believe that opposition to a tax increase is important in their selection of a candidate. All of the contenders have said they do not support higher taxes to repair the state's budget, but McKenna has used his ads to target Ryan and Dillard as refusing to rule out a tax increase.
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