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 The summer of 2019 saw Illinoisans hosed with 20 new and raised
taxes. And while Illinoisans have yet to see the full scope of those increases
take effect, a new poll suggests the governor’s approval rating could already be
paying the price.
Quarterly polling released Oct. 23 by Morning Consult ranked Illinois Gov. J.B.
Pritzker eighth least-popular among the 50 U.S. governors. It also showed
Pritzker is underwater with independent voters.
The consulting firm surveyed registered voters in Illinois between July 1 – the
effective date of Pritzker’s doubled gas tax – and Sept. 30 to capture voters’
attitude toward their governor in the third quarter. This most recent update
shows Pritzker’s approval rating at 43% with a disapproval rating of 42%, while
14% of respondents did not have an opinion.
 The governor might be most troubled by the direction in which those attitudes
have trended. The firm’s first-quarter polling showed Pritzker enjoying 40%
approval with only 29% who disapproved. Pritzker’s disapproval rating has spiked
substantially to 42% as his approval rating has remained largely unchanged.
Pritzker’s support is strongest among Democrats. When approval is subtracted
from disapproval, that net approval rating is plus 47 percentage points with his
party members. That same net approval rating is minus 56 percentage points with
Republicans and minus 11 points with independents.
Pritzker ranks sixth-least popular among the 23 Democratic governors.
In June, Pritzker signed into law record budget and infrastructure plans that
came with a total of 20 new and increased taxes and fees and a price tag of $85
billion. What’s worse, those new revenue sources failed to bring the governor’s
first budget into balance, despite his promise that it would be.
Illinoisans on July 1 felt the first pinch of those tax and fee hikes, when the
state’s gas tax doubled and a variety of vehicle fees spiked.
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While most of those new taxes have not yet taken
effect, July’s gas tax and vehicle fee hikes alone were enough to
cancel out Pritzker’s signature campaign promise of middle-class tax
relief under a proposed progressive income tax overhaul, which goes
before voters in November 2020. Any income tax savings middle-class
households might see under the most optimistic “fair tax” scenario
were immediately eclipsed by the magnitude of those tax and fee
hikes.
And while Pritzker has delivered on some of his key
campaign promises – such as legalizing recreational marijuana and
expanding Illinois’ presence of casinos – his stances against
corruption and partisan abuses have remained rhetorical at best.
Despite widespread support among Illinois voters for an end to
partisan gerrymandering, Pritzker has yet to follow his promise to
pursue redistricting reform with concrete action. In 2018 alone,
Michigan, Missouri, Colorado and Utah approved constitutional
amendments to end gerrymandering.
Moreover, Pritzker’s anti-corruption rhetoric was belied by his $45
billion capital plan, which came packed with pork-barrel spending
and lawmaker self-dealing. Pritzker, who himself is under federal
investigation for tax fraud, has remained largely silent as an
ongoing federal corruption probe has circled in on Springfield and
Chicago’s top power brokers, including state Sen. Martin Sandoval
who engineered the capital plan and gas tax.
A recent Illinois Policy Institute report found public corruption
cost the Illinois economy more than $550 million per year from 2000
to 2017, for a total of $9.9 billion – or nearly $800 per resident.
Illinoisans have made their wishes clear: tax relief and a more
ethical government. To improve his favorables, Pritzker should work
to deliver both.
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