Biss Leaps Over Kennedy In 2nd Place, Pritzker's Lead Slips: Poll

CHICAGO, IL — With less than eight weeks to go before the Democratic gubernatorial primary, a new poll shows the heavy-spending frontrunner faltering and a new candidate leapfrogging into second place in a six person field. Nonetheless, nearly 38 percent of likely voters responded they were still undecided in the We Ask America poll conducted this week.

Despite saturating the airwaves with ad spending, stacking up prestigious endorsements and spreading his self-financed campaign funds to local Democratic ward operations, J.B. Pritzker's support has fallen by more than 10 percent during the three months since the last public poll was conducted.

In the poll released Wednesday, Pritzker's 24 point lead over his nearest rival was cut in half.

Evanston Sen. Daniel Biss is now in second place – almost tripling his support in last October's poll – climbing to more than 17 percent in the latest numbers.

Chris Kennedy fell to third place, dropping from 15 percent to 11.5 percent support in the poll.

The results show Biss is now "within striking distance" in heavily Democratic parts of northern Illinois, according to pollsters.

In suburban Cook County, he led Pritzker by several points. However, Biss recorded only 3.86 support from downstate voters in the poll.

Pritzker led by more than 30 points among black voters, by nearly 25 points among those aged 35 to 50 and by close to 20 points among seniors, according to demographic breakdowns from the poll.

Kennedy's name recognition is keeping him in the race and Pritzker's big money advantage make still makes him a favorite, but We Ask America's said the tightening poll numbers indicate the race could be closer than anyone anticipated.

Tio Hardiman was the only candidate outside of the top three who polled above a single percentage point.

The previous public poll (A Capital Fax/We Ask America survey of 1,154 likely voters with a 3 percent margin of error) showed Pritzker with 39 percent of the vote. Kennedy registered 15 percent at the time. And Biss had just 6 percent support – with nearly 70 percent of Democrats not having heard of him at the time.

In response to the poll, Biss's campaign described itself as "excited to continue growing." In a statement, campaign manager Abby Witt said the results affirmed what staffers already believed.

"Voters understand the choice in this primary: a middle-class candidate with a progressive record and bold vision for Illinois' future, or a billionaire businessman who's now promising to fix the same broken systems he's benefited from," she said.

Pritzker is "proud" of his support across the state and remains confident his message is resonating, according to his campaign's press secretary, Jordan Abudayyeh.

"It’s clear that JB is the only candidate who is focused on beating Bruce Rauner and that’s exactly what he’ll do in November," she said.

Representatives from the Kennedy campaign did not immediately provide a response to the new data.

The poll was conducted Jan. 28 to 30, included responses from 811 likely voters and had a margin of error of 3.44 percent.

» Read the full poll results and methodology from We Ask America