SPRINGFIELD - In the latest official independent statewide poll of Illinois voters, Governor JB Pritzker begins his campaign for a third term with an approval rating of 51.9%. The percentage of respondents who disapprove of the Governor’s performance is 40.3%. The approval percentage is down slightly (53.1%) from a similar poll down in February 2025. A similar percentage (51.8%) of respondents say the Governor has earned a third term in office.
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According to the poll, the Governor’s approval rating continues to lag slightly under the percentage of votes he won in his election campaigns in 2018 (54.5%) and 2022 (54.9%) against Republican candidates former Governor Bruce Rauner and former State Senator Darren Bailey, respectively. Thus far, the only two announced Republican opponents for Governor are DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick and former Congressional candidate Joseph Severino.
The results are part of the latest Illinois Poll, conducted June 23-25. It is a semi-monthly survey conducted since 2001 by Victory Research, an independent polling company based in Chicago. The poll of 1208 likely Illinois general election voters has a margin of error of 2.82% and was conducted by live callers. Respondents answered using land lines (308) and cell phones (900). www.illinoispoliticsblog.com. @ILpollster.
Geographically, the Governor is the most popular in the heavily Democratic City of Chicago, with a 72.4% approval, followed by Suburban Cook County with 53.4% and the Collar Counties at 47.8%. Governor Pritzker is underwater in the rest of the state with 41.5% approving and a majority 51.9% disapproving, according to the poll.
The poll shows a gender gap that has consistently benefitted the Governor. Male voters barely approve of the Governor’s performance (48.9%-48.4%), while female voters favor his performance by a wide margin (54.4%-39.1%). When respondents were asked their racial identity, Black voters approved of Pritzker’s performance (75.9%-18.4%), while a plurality of Hispanics approved (46.2%-39.9%) and is slightly underwater among white voters (48.0%-49.8%).
Governor Pritzker has maintained overwhelming support among respondents who identified themselves as Democrats (90.1%), while not surprisingly, Republican respondents disapproved of his job performance by a similar margin (92.3%), according to the poll. When respondents were asked if they “want him (Governor Pritzker) to be a Presidential candidate in the next Presidential election, or would you prefer he focus on being Governor?” a plurality (46.9%-41.1%) said they would prefer Governor Pritzker focus on being Governor.
