A press release from the polling firm We Ask America:
Struggling

IL-Quinn

We Ask America Polls™ kicks off our 2013 public poll offering with a series of surveys focusing on governors who will be up for re-election next year.

It’s important to note that this series of polls asks only one main question:

Do you approve or disapprove of the job [governor’s name] is doing?

To be fair, governors are often viewed by the public as the main symbol of state government, and these polls do not measure or predict how well a particular politician will do against any given opponent. The proof of that may be found in our first offering in our home state of Illinois: Democrat Pat Quinn.

We’ve profiled Gov. Quinn before (Tenacious Gadfly), and not much has changed since then.

Illinois continues to struggle under oppressive ($100 billion) public pension debt and multi-billion dollar budget deficits despite a sizable “temporary” state income tax now pumping more into state coffers.

Quinn is often portrayed in press and the political blogosphere in terms of being hapless–not a great portrait for someone seeking re-election in tough times.

Indeed, rumors continue to swirl of the possibility of fellow Democrats trying to take him out in next year’s Primary.

But political coroners have tagged Quinn’s toe a number of times in the past only to be confounded.

Will that be the case in 2014? Perhaps, but these approval numbers simply cannot be dismissed easily:

It’s problematic for Gov. Quinn that support among Independent voters continues to erode for him. Again, let’s be clear that these approval numbers can’t be viewed as a predictor of doom. Quinn’s dismal approval rating didn’t stop him from winning in 2010.

But we’re sure that some will look at these results and assume that Quinn can best be described as the Walking Dead.