Despite Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s well known rampant corruption, he was easily reelected back in 2006. But it looks like Illinois voters are finally realizing that it’s time to stop letting party loyalty make them turn a blind eye. A new poll shows that nearly 2/3 of Illinois registered voters want the Democrat governor to be impeached.
A new statewide poll has found that 59 percent of Illinois registered voters want the Illinois Legislature to begin impeachment hearings against Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The survey of 600 registered voters was conducted May 7 to 10 and has a margin of error of plus/minus 4 percent.
Conducted by the Glengariff Group, the poll found Blagojevich’s disapproval rating was a whopping 65 percent, while just 26 percent approve. An Ipsos poll conducted in late March found 54 percent disapproved of Blagojevich’s performance, but Ipsos also asked whether respondents had “mixed feelings,” whereas Glengariff just asked straight up whether they approved or disapproved.
The governor’s job approval ratings, the coverage of the Tony Rezko trial, the frustrated attempt to put recall on the ballot, the disastrous debate over yet another pay raise for legislators and the governor, and the horrendous right-track/wrong-track numbers (14 percent said the state was on the right track, while 71 percent said it was on the wrong track) all likely contributed to the impeachment hearings result.
Just 29.6 percent of registered voters opposed holding impeachment hearings, while 38 percent strongly supported holding hearings and 20.5 percent “somewhat supported” the idea.
Even a plurality of Democrats supports holding impeachment hearings. Democratic voters said they supported the idea by a margin of 49.4 percent to 41.5 percent. Independents overwhelmingly like the proposal, backing it 63 to 24. And it’s probably no surprise that Republicans love it. A whopping 73.5 percent of GOP voters said it was a good idea, compared to just 16 percent who said it wasn’t.
Blagojevich’s troubles go way back, and Mark and I even went into some detail about the dark ethical cloud hanging over him in our book, Caucus of Corruption. I’m glad the people of Illinois have finally begun opening their eyes.
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