Looking at Rahm

It's a good thing for Rahm Emanuel that he's not going back to Illinois to run for Governor or Senate...but they like him in Chicago.

Our Illinois poll this week found that statewide Emanuel is a pretty unpopular figure. Only 29% of voters have a favorable opinion of him with 50% viewing him negatively. He's pretty universally reviled by Republicans (5/77 favorability) while Democrats are positive toward him but more tepidly so (52/21 favorability.) Independents split against him by a 21/62 margin as well.

Although there's a general sense that it's been liberal Democrats disenchanted with Emanuel he's actually more popular with them than he is with folks from the moderate or conservative wing of the party. Liberal Democrats give him a +40 favorability (59/19), moderate ones give him a +26 (51/25), and with the conservative wing of the party he's at a +14 (29/15).

Emanuel may not be very well liked down state but his numbers in the city of Chicago are strong. 50% of city voters on the poll said they had a favorable opinion of him to 30% with a negative one. In the rest of the state he's at a 24/54. It's going to be a crowded and likely strong field of candidates but Emanuel starts out with high name recognition and a pretty good degree of popularity in the city.

Full results here