Raleigh, N.C. – Almost halfway through his first term, Mark Kirk is one of the most anonymous Senators in the country. 32% approve of him, 32% disapprove, and the largest percentage at 37% doesn’t have an opinion about him one way or the other. What’s interesting about Kirk’s numbers though is that while Republicans are not that enthused about him (only a 35/27 approval), Democrats don’t really have much of a problem with him compared to most Republican Senators (a 23/35 approval). That crossover support means he might not be an easy out in 2016- he ties Lisa Madigan at 41 in a hypothetical head to head, taking 15% of the Democratic vote while losing only 11% of Republicans.

As we’re finding most places Illinois voters strongly support raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour. 58% support such a move to only 34% who oppose it. The concept has overwhelming support from Democrats (77/19) and independents (57/30), and even 34% of Republicans favor it.

Chris Christie is the top choice of Illinois Republicans to be their candidate for President in 2014. 18% say he would be their top choice to 13% for Ted Cruz, 12% for Jeb Bush, 10% for Rand Paul, 9% for Paul Ryan, 7% for Scott Walker, 6% for Marco Rubio, and 4% each for Bobby Jindal and Rick Santorum. Walker’s 7% standing is stronger than we’ve found for him anywhere else other than Wisconsin, probably because of geographic proximity, but it still shows he’s just not that strong a national figure yet.

Despite years of futility there’s still no doubt Illinois is a Cubs state. 40% of voters in the state identify themselves as Cubs fans to 25% for the White Sox and 15% for the Cardinals with nobody else rising above 2%. And despite the Cubs losing 96 games this year, voters in the state still think by a 67/9 margin that they did a better job this year than Congress.

Jay Cutler’s net favorability with voters in Illinois has declined a net 19 points over the last year from +26 (41/15) in November 2012 to now just +7 at 34/27. 59% of Illinois voters identify as Bears fans to 9% for the Packers and 4% for the Rams with nobody else polling over 2%.

PPP surveyed 557 Illinois voters, including an oversample of 375 usual Republican primary voters, from November 22nd to 25th. The margin of error for the overall survey is +/- 4.2% and +/-5.1% for the GOP sample. PPP’s surveys are conducted through automated telephone interviews.

Topline results are below.  Full results, including crosstabs, can be found here.

General Election Toplines

Q1 Do you approve or disapprove of Senator Mark
Kirk’s job performance?
Approve …………………………………………………. 32%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 32%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 37%

Q2 If the candidates for Senate in 2016 were
Republican Mark Kirk and Democrat Lisa
Madigan, who would you vote for?
Mark Kirk………………………………………………… 41%
Lisa Madigan ………………………………………….. 41%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 19%

Q3 Do you approve or disapprove of the Affordable
Care Act?
Approve …………………………………………………. 44%
Disapprove……………………………………………… 45%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 10%

Q4 Do you think the implementation of the
Affordable Care Act so far has been very
successful, somewhat successful, somewhat
unsuccessful, very unsuccessful, or are you
not sure?
Very successful……………………………………….. 6%
Somewhat successful ………………………………. 20%
Somewhat unsuccessful …………………………… 23%
Very unsuccessful……………………………………. 47%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 4%

Q5 Would you support or oppose raising the
minimum wage to $10 an hour?
Support ………………………………………………….. 58%
Oppose ………………………………………………….. 34%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 8%

Q6 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Oprah Winfrey?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 44%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 38%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 18%

Q7 Given the choices of Illinois, Northern Illinois,
and Northwestern, what is your favorite college
football team in the state?
Illinois…………………………………………………….. 33%
Northern Illinois……………………………………….. 15%
Northwestern ………………………………………….. 17%
Someone else/Don’t have a favorite …………… 35%

Q8 Is your favorite NFL team the Chicago Bears,
Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers,
Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, New
York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, or St. Louis
Rams?
Bears …………………………………………………….. 59%
Cowboys………………………………………………… 2%
Packers………………………………………………….. 9%
Colts ……………………………………………………… 1%
Patriots ………………………………………………….. 2%
Giants ……………………………………………………. 1%
Steelers………………………………………………….. 2%
Rams …………………………………………………….. 4%
Someone else/Don’t have a favorite …………… 20%

Q9 Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion
of Jay Cutler?
Favorable……………………………………………….. 34%
Unfavorable ……………………………………………. 27%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 39%

Q10 Is your favorite baseball team the Atlanta
Braves, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs,
Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee
Brewers, New York Yankees, or St. Louis
Cardinals?
Braves …………………………………………………… 1%
Red Sox…………………………………………………. 1%
Cubs ……………………………………………………… 40%
White Sox ………………………………………………. 25%
Tigers…………………………………………………….. 2%
Brewers …………………………………………………. 2%
Yankees …………………………………………………. 1%
Cardinals………………………………………………… 15%
Someone else/Don’t have a favorite …………… 14%

Q11 Who do you think’s done a better job this year:
Congress or the Chicago Cubs?
Congress ……………………………………………….. 9%
The Cubs ……………………………………………….. 67%
Not sure …………………………………………………. 23%

Q12 In the last presidential election, did you vote for
Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?
Barack Obama………………………………………… 51%
Mitt Romney……………………………………………. 42%
Someone else/Don’t remember …………………. 7%

Q13 Would you describe yourself as very liberal,
somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat
conservative, or very conservative?
Very liberal ……………………………………………… 17%
Somewhat liberal …………………………………….. 14%
Moderate………………………………………………… 30%
Somewhat conservative……………………………. 25%
Very conservative ……………………………………. 13%

Q14 If you are a woman, press 1. If a man, press 2.
Woman ………………………………………………….. 53%
Man……………………………………………………….. 47%

Q15 If you are a Democrat, press 1. If a Republican,
press 2. If you are an independent or identify
with another party, press 3.
Democrat ……………………………………………….. 37%
Republican……………………………………………… 29%
Independent/Other…………………………………… 34%

Q16 If you are Hispanic, press 1. If white, press 2.
If African-American, press 3. If other, press 4.
Hispanic…………………………………………………. 10%
White …………………………………………………….. 71%
African-American …………………………………….. 13%
Other……………………………………………………… 6%

Q17 If you are 18 to 45 years old, press 1. If 46 to
65, press 2. If you are older than 65, press 3.
18 to 45………………………………………………….. 39%
46 to 65………………………………………………….. 39%
Older than 65………………………………………….. 22%

Republican Primary Toplines

Q1 Given the choices of Jeb Bush, Chris Christie,
Ted Cruz, Bobby Jindal, Rand Paul, Marco
Rubio, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum, and Scott
Walker, who would you most like to see as the
GOP candidate for President in 2016?
Jeb Bush………………………………………………… 12%
Chris Christie ………………………………………….. 18%
Ted Cruz ………………………………………………… 13%
Bobby Jindal …………………………………………… 4%
Rand Paul ………………………………………………. 10%
Marco Rubio …………………………………………… 6%
Paul Ryan ………………………………………………. 9%
Rick Santorum………………………………………… 4%
Scott Walker …………………………………………… 7%
Someone else/Not sure ……………………………. 16%

Q2 Would you describe yourself as very liberal,
somewhat liberal, moderate, somewhat
conservative, or very conservative?
Very liberal ……………………………………………… 1%
Somewhat liberal …………………………………….. 6%
Moderate………………………………………………… 21%
Somewhat conservative……………………………. 43%
Very conservative ……………………………………. 29%

Q3 If you are a woman, press 1. If a man, press 2.
Woman ………………………………………………….. 43%
Man……………………………………………………….. 57%

Q4 If you are 18 to 45 years old, press 1. If 46 to
65, press 2. If you are older than 65, press 3.
18 to 45………………………………………………….. 30%
46 to 65………………………………………………….. 45%
Older than 65………………………………………….. 25%