A Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll released September 2 shows these results for the U.S. Senate race in Illinois: Democrat Alexi Giannoullas 34%, Republican Mark Kirk 34%, Green Party nominee LeAlan Jones 6%, Libertarian Party nominee Mike Labno 3%, undecided 23%.
The previous best showing for U.S. Senate for the Illinois Green Party was in 2008, when Kathleen Cummings polled 2.24%. The previous best showing for that office for the Illinois Libertarian Party was in 2004, when Jerry Kohn received 1.35%. No U.S. Senate candidate, other than a Democrat or a Republican, has polled as much as 5% for U.S. Senate in Illinois since 1914. Thanks to Political Wire for the news about the Illinois poll.
Lets hope LeAlan gets to 10 so he can be in the debates.
Finally there are some polls that include 3rd Party candidates. Lets hope that they advance in the polls.
LeAlan Jones has been included in other scientific polls with higher showings, sometimes in the double-digits. This seems to verify that alot of the Green Party support in Illinois arises from a protest vote against the two parties. Oddly enough then, the Libertarians and Greens are splitting their base.
How can you tell which minor party is stealing from whom? To whose “base” are you referring?
Who is going to get 5% this year? Anyone have a shot? I’ve heard that Julie Fox is a great campaigner with an active campaign, but it’s impossible to get ahold of anyone in her campaign.
@4, there are voters who vote against both major party candidates as protest votes. The minor parties must compete for these votes.
You can tell by comparing it to past polls. The article does not mention that the gubernatorial race was also polled. Scott lee Cohen, Rich Whitney, and Libertarian Lex Green all polled in low single digits. This may seem surprising, until you realize that if you add up the numbers they are relatively close to the relatively stronger poll numbers Whitney exhibited as the only third party candidate in early polls.