Dem pollster: Survey shows Rauner ‘albatross around the neck of GOP’

A new poll commissioned by the Democratic Governors Association — which has recently amped up its criticism of Gov. Bruce Rauner — finds the governor’s job rating has dropped, while half of those polled said he had done a “poor” job on the state budget.

The DGA released a memo on the findings, but declined to release the entire poll, conducted by pollster Jill Normington.

“Incumbent Republican Governor Bruce Rauner remains extremely vulnerable with every measure of his political support below 40 percent,” the memo said.

His overall positive job rating totaled 34 percent, with 63 percent saying he has done a “poor” or “not so good” job.

The memo says Rauner’s negative job rating stands at 61 percent and has increased 10 points among white voters age 60 and older since January — which they deemed a sign of “significant trouble” for his re-election chances.

The memo notes that 17 percent of Republicans polled rate his job performance as “excellent,” with 66 percent of Democrats saying he’s doing a “poor” job.

“These kinds of ratings create a plausible scenario of unenthused Republicans staying home and angry Democrats coming out in larger than expected numbers, which results in a wave across Illinois that will affect every candidate in 2018,” the memo says. “Rauner is on track to be an albatross around the neck of GOP candidates up and down the ballot.

It also found a 68 percent negative rating in Chicago, up 8 percentage points, and a 54 percent negative rating, up 4 percent in the collar counties.

The poll was conducted between July 18 and 20 of 600 likely voters in Illinois via landline and cellphones. There is a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

In response to the poll, Democratic candidate J.B. Pritzker’s campaign on Thursday called Rauner “the most vulnerable governor in the country.”

The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning.