If at first you don't succeed ... announce your own poll results!
After the Chicago Tribune reported yesterday that Todd Stroger was dead last among likely primary voters, the Cook County Board President announced his own poll results that show him in a much tighter re-election race.
The Tribune/WGN TV poll shows Alderman Toni Preckwinkle with a significant lead at 36 percent of voters. Preckwinkle's followed by Dorothy Brown, with 24-percent, then Terry O’Brien with 16-percent. Stroger brings up the rear with 11-percent, and 14-percent of likely Democratic voters say they’re undecided.
The Tribune poll surveyed 503 voters.
Stroger's poll, by Victory, shows a tighter race with Preckwinkle garnering 22.2 percent of the vote, Brown with 20.5 and Stroger with 18.7 percent.
Rod McCullom, the Victory representative, stood near Stroger and, in an unorthodox move for a pollster, said he would vote for him if he could. McCullom said their poll sampled 600 voters and has a margin of error of 4.2 percent.
Stroger accused the Tribune of having an agenda with its poll.
"I don't trust anything in the Tribune," Stroger said.
It's not a new line; the Cook County Board President has long said that the Tribune is out to get him.
When the Tribune released a similar poll in Decemeber, he released a statement slamming the paper.
"This is just more of the same from the paper that has set out to defeat Todd Stroger," campaign manager Vince Williams said, dismissing the poll. "We will win."
Politics
He had even harsher words for the paper in September.
"I'm not surprised by the ongoing smear campaign this paper mounts against me in their editorial pages," Stroger said in a statement.
Stroger says the poll showing a tie among Preckwinkle, Brown and himself surveyed 500 likely voters, but at this time it’s unclear who administered the poll, or what question was asked.
All four candidates are speaking at a forum this morning and Stroger has promised more information. Check back for details.
