A new poll released Friday by Rasmussen Reports showed little movement in the two ticket-topping races in Illinois.
In the governor's race, Republican state senator Bill Brady led Gov. Pat Quinn by a margin of 45-38, exactly the same margin by which he was leading in the same poll on April 5. Mark Kirk opened up a slightly larger lead on Democrat Alexi Giannoulias in the U.S. Senate race; the Republican congressman received 46 percent support in the latest poll, to Giannoulias's 38 percent.
This compares favorably to the 41-37 margin he polled in early April. But Rasmussen points out a potential downside in the data for Kirk:
Still, despite the Broadway Bank controversy, Kirk has been unable to push past his previous high [of 46% in February 2010]. Giannoulias got a much-sought-after boost of support from President Obama after the survey was taken, so it's unclear at this point whether the bank issue has caused the candidate any long-term damage in a state that has trended Democratic in recent years.
Meanwhile, on the gubernatorial side, Quinn's numbers continue to look grim. Rasmussen writes that incumbents usually hope for at least 50 percent support at this point in their bids for re-election. Quinn is 12 points shy of that number.
Equally disconcerting, he is viewed "very unfavorably" by a staggering 24 percent of the voters polled. This is within the margin of error of the 28 percent "very unfavorable" that he received in the last poll.
The good news for Quinn is that Brady is still relatively unknown-- 21 percent of voters said they were not sure how they felt about the senator from Bloomington. Given Brady's fairly far-right positions on a number of social issues, Quinn may have success painting him as too conservative for a state that has trended blue in recent years.
Still, though, for a state that President Obama won by 25 points just 18 months ago, there isn't a ton of good news in these polls for the major Democratic Party candidates. It remains to be seen just how hard Obama will fight to keep the state in Democratic hands.