Poll Shows Emanuel With 58 Percent Support
UPDATED 02/15/11 11:43 a.m.
CHICAGO (WBBM/CBS) -- One week before Chicago's mayoral election, a new poll suggests there will be a clear and easy winner next Tuesday.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Regine Schlesinger reports, the poll is the fourth and last of the campaign, by the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. This time, those surveyed were not permitted to choose "undecided" as an option.
LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Regine Schlesinger reports
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With over 2,200 likely voters polled, the survey finds Rahm Emanuel in the lead with 58 percent support – enough that he could conceivably avoid a runoff.
Gery Chico is a distant second with 24 percent, and Miguel Del Valle follows with 10 percent. Carol Moseley Braun is in fourth place with just 6 percent support.
Braun had placed second behind Emanuel in several past polls.
If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election between the top two finishers will be held in April.
Despite being the frontrunner, Emanuel is leaving nothing to chance as the campaign wraps up.
On Tuesday morning, he kicked off what his campaign is calling "50 Wards in 50 Hours." His campaign says he will be out shaking hands just about nonstop Tuesday and Wednesday.
Emanuel started at the Loyola Red Line stop in the 49th Ward.
And this week, the four front-running candidates will join Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson on the CBS 2 News at Six. Tonight (Tuesday), Bill and Walter will pose their questions to Miguel Del Valle.