WASHINGTON — Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton lead in Illinois, according to a poll by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
While Democrat Clinton has 51 percent to Bernie Sanders’ 32 percent, on the GOP side, Trump only holds a plurality, at 28 percent, with basically a three-way tie between Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich.
Trump and Kasich are tied in Chicago.
David Yepsen, director of the Institute, said “while this is good news for Trump, the poll also illustrates a problem for him: There are 72 percent of Illinois Republicans who are for someone else or are undecided. If the non-Trump vote rallies around a single candidate, Trump could be upended.”
Sanders does best with voters under 35, with 64 percent, to 27 percent for Clinton. Clinton does best with voters over 66, with 54 percent, to 21 percent to Sanders. The Illinois finding mirrors national trends. Clinton is ahead of Sanders with female and non-white voters.
Here is a snapshot as Illinois heads towards the March 15 primary and with early voting already started. The survey was taken before Jeb Bush dropped out last Sunday and before the GOP South Carolina primary and the Democratic Nevada caucus last Saturday.
DEMOCRATS
51% Hillary Clinton
32% Bernie Sanders
16% Undecided
BY AREA
CLINTON
55% Chicago
53% Chicago Suburbs
44% Downstate
SANDERS
32% Chicago
31% Chicago Suburbs
36% Downstate
REPUBLICANS
28% Donald Trump
15% Ted Cruz
14% Marco Rubio
13% John Kasich
8% Jeb Bush
6% Ben Carson
15% Undecided
BY AREA
TRUMP
28% Chicago
28% Chicago Suburbs
27% Downstate
CRUZ
17% Chicago
12% Chicago suburbs
17% Downstate
RUBIO
11% Chicago
18% Chicago Suburbs
10% Downstate
KASICH
28% Chicago
13% Chicago suburbs
10% Downstate
HOW THE POLL WAS CONDUCTED: “The sample of 306 Republicans was part of a statewide poll of 1,000 registered voters conducted Feb.15 to 20. The GOP voter sample has a margin of error of 5.6 percent.
“The sample of 422 Democratic primary voters was also from the Feb. 15-20 statewide poll. The Democratic results have a margin of error of 4.7 percent.”