Large Pritzker Lead Over Rauner In Illinois Governor's Race: Poll

CHICAGO — Republican incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner trails Democratic challenger J.B. Pritzker by 16 points with 2 1/2 months to go before the election, according to poll conducted last week. The poll showed Pritzker was leading Rauner 46-30 among registered voters, while 25 percent of voters were either undecided or supporters of another candidate. More than half of Illinois voters have an unfavorable opinion of Rauner and more than a fifth had never heard of him or were unsure how they felt, according to the NBC News/Marist poll.

Pritzker had a 38 percent favorable rating, compared to 35 percent unfavorable. (Overall, 22 percent of respondents had never heard of or were unsure about Rauner, while 27 percent felt the same about Pritzker.)

The poll shows 27 percent of Republicans have an unfavorable view of their incumbent governor and 20 percent of Democrats have an unfavorable view of their nominee.

When broken down by region, Pritzker was favored in Cook County a margin of 58 percent to 21 percent, in central and southern Illinois by 43 percent to 33 percent, and in the north of the state by just one point, 35 percent to 34 percent. Rauner had more support in the collar counties by a rate of 40 percent to 34 percent.

Rauner, a multi-millionaire former private equity investor, appears to face an uphill battle to keep the race competitive as his challenger continues to write eight-figure checks to his campaign.

"We'll never outspend these corrupt guys," Rauner said at the Illinois State Fair last week, the State Journal-Register reported. "He's using his money to buy political office. They're going to outspend us 3-1, but you can only put so much lipstick on a barrow [castrated pig.]"

'Most Important' Governor's Race Heats Up At Illinois State Fair »

The most recent campaign finance disclosures suggest Pritzker has raised more than twice as much money as Rauner and is spending it at nearly three times the rate of the Republican. As of last month, campaigns to elect the two men two men (who reportedly own more than a dozen houses between them) had spent more than $160 million.

Pritzker, a heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune with a net worth of $3.5 billion, gave his campaign another $20 million last week. With more than 10 weeks to go before the election, he has spent more of his own money to finance his campaign than the total spent by both sides in the last gubernatorial campaign.

His campaign on Monday released a video featuring an endorsement by former President Barack Obama (who Pritzker said he tended to "lean" toward voting for in 2012.) The record-spending Democratic campaign is Pritzker's second bid at elected office after losing the 1998 primary for the 9th District congressional seat that's been held by Rep. Jan Schakowsky ever since.

Pritzker Burning Through Money Almost 3 Times Faster Than Rauner »

President Donald Trump's low popularity in the state (56 percent disapprove of the job he's doing while 31 percent approve) could hurt Republicans on the ballot, pollsters suggested.

“President Trump is casting a long shadow over this November’s elections in Illinois,” Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, told NBC News.

In addition to asking what Illinois voters think of their choices for governor, the Marist College pollsters inquired about the midterm congressional races, including the possible impact of Trump on voters who could decide several close races for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Overall, 49 percent of those polled would prefer Democratic control of the House and 35 percent support maintaining a Republican majority. Another 16 percent were unsure.

The poll said 57 percent of registered voters said they wanted to elect more Democrats "to be a check and balance to Donald Trump" compared to 32 percent who supported electing "more Republicans who will help Donald Trump pass his agenda."

The poll also asked Illinois voters what they thought about raising tariffs and trade barriers. It found 42 percent believed they would "raise the costs of consumer goods and hurt the U.S. economy," 23 percent thought they would "protect American jobs and help the U.S. economy," 20 percent said they would "not have much impact one way or the other" on the economy and 14 percent were unsure.

The quarter of the voters who did not support or lean toward either of the major party candidates showed 13 percent of voters were undecided, 6 percent would support Libertarian Kash Jackson, 4 percent would support Sam McCann and his newly-formed Conservative Party and 2 percent with support someone else.

The survey polled 831 randomly selected adults on landlines and mobile phone number in live interviews between Aug. 12 and 16. It has a margin of error of 4.4 percent, according to methodology provided by the pollsters.

Complete NBC/Marist Poll results and methodology