Rahm Emanuel Has Huge Lead in Chicago Mayoral Race

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rahm-emanuelBoosted by a surge in support from African-Americans, Rahm Emanuel holds double-digit leads over his rivals in the Chicago mayoral race and is nearing the magic 50 percent mark, a new poll shows.

Emanuel has the support of 44 percent of likely voters surveyed in a Chicago Tribune/WGN poll released late Thursday – a jump from the 32 percent he had last month.

If President Barack Obama’s former chief of staff hits 50 percent in the Feb. 22 Democratic primary, he wins outright and prevents an April runoff against the second-place finisher.

Amid a racial controversy over former President Clinton’s recent campaign appearance for Emanuel, the poll shows that his backing among African-Americans has more than doubled.

Emanuel now has the support of 40 percent of blacks, compared with 19 percent in last month’s survey.

Since last month, two African-American candidates, Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and state Sen. James Meeks, have dropped out of the race. They both endorsed former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, who the poll shows has 39 percent of the African-American vote.

Overall, Braun trails Emanuel badly with 21 percent of the vote – up from 6 percent in last month’s poll – and former city Board of Education President Gery Chico at 16 percent, the Tribune poll found. Other candidates are further behind, and 9 percent of voters said they are undecided.

Clinton’s decision to campaign for Emanuel generated angry attacks from African-American pols, especially from Braun. The former president spoke at a rally on Emanuel’s behalf earlier this week.

Braun’s called his campaign appearance “a betrayal of the people who were most loyal to him,” and said African-Americans stood behind Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

The Tribune surveyed 708 registered voters considered likely to vote. The survey was conducted Jan. 15-19 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

{Capitol News Company, LLC/Matzav.com}


1 COMMENT

  1. Braun was one of the worst Senators in decades. Her support for the Nigerian dictator Abacha should have ended her political career for good. Emanuel should win easily.

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