New poll: 50.2% of Illinois voters view Pritzker unfavorably
[August 08, 2025]
By Jim Talamonti
(The Center Square) – A new poll shows that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s
approval rating has flipped negative for the first time.
The Illinois Policy Institute’s newest Lincoln Poll conducted by M3
Strategies July 15-18 found that 50.2% of likely voters in 2026 view the
governor unfavorably and 47.2% view Pritzker favorably.
M3 surveyed 752 individuals and reported a +/- 3.57 percentage point
margin of error.
The previous Lincoln Poll in late January showed a slim majority of
Illinois voters approving of Pritzker’s job performance.
Illinois Policy Institute Senior Fellow and former Illinois state Rep.
Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield, said he would have advised Pritzker not to
run for a third term.
“Third terms are often called the third-term curse, number one. Number
two, running a general election for governor doesn’t match with running
in a far-left Democratic primary for president,” Batinick told The
Center Square.
Batinick said he predicted months ago that the governor’s poll numbers
would drop.
“The stuff that he’s trying to do to go to the far left to be relevant
in the Democratic primary for president is costing him with
rank-and-file voters here in Illinois. They’re like, ‘You know what?
I’ve got a high property tax bill. I don’t care about Texas legislators.
I want you back in Illinois doing the things that matter to us.’ When
you look at that poll, taxes was the number one issue,” Batinick said.
Sixty percent of respondents identified taxes as a top issue facing
Illinois. State governance was next at 26%, followed by the economy at
25%.
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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker - BlueRoomStream
“The fact that he has the gall to talk about [President Donald]
Trump’s tariffs, calling them a tax on the working class, that just
reminds everybody that [Pritzker] massively raised the gas tax, that
our property taxes are number one in the nation,” Batinick said.
According to Illinois Policy, Pritzker has enacted over 50 tax hikes
since he took office in 2019.
Crime was fourth among voters’ top issues, followed by education,
housing and immigration.
Batinick said it’s possible that 10% of the people who previously
voted for Pritzker now support Trump.
“He’s leaned into those things that are giving the Democrats low
popularity, right? The extremism of the Democratic Party does not
play with the general electorate, and you’re seeing that in his poll
numbers. It surprises me not one bit,” Batinick said.
Batinick said M3 Strategies nailed the Chicago mayoral race and
other Illinois elections.
“M3’s polling has been extremely accurate in terms of what they’ve
released publicly, and often times they’ve been ahead of the curve
on things,” Batinick said.
The Democratic Party of Illinois did not immediately respond to a
request for comment. |
