During yesterday's Current exit poll, we asked Cook County Democratic voters about more than just how they voted. We got into everything from how well they liked the candidates they chose to what informed those choices.
Here's the big headline: Though the economy is dominating the national political dialogue, voters in Cook County were far more concerned about the perceived honesty of the candidates.
When the last guy you chose for governor was named Blagojevich, I guess you've got a right to give the next group of candidates the stink eye. Read more...
At 6:11 p.m. yesterday, before the polls closed, I wrote that our exit polling suggested Toni Preckwinkle had the Cook County Board president's race locked down.
And I was right. Our survey honed in on Preckwinkle's strong performance early in the day, and continued to highlight her lead as the election progressed.
And yet ... our poll was wrong. I predicted Preckwinkle would snag 69% of the vote, and noted that the poll had an 8% margin of error. Preckwinkle ended the day with 49% of the vote -- well outside that margin. Read more...
Well, folks, our projections show Hynes and Quinn separated by less than a tenth of a percentage point, and the more precision we bring to the model ... the narrower the contest becomes.
With some elections, it's best to let the folks who are actually counting the ballots name the winner. And this is definitely one of them.
For the record, here's our projection: Read more...
Today, a dedicated crew of Current reporters and Northwestern University journalism students is fanning out across Cook County to conduct exit polls.
Starting in about an hour, we'll bring you a running tally on who's pulling ahead in the Cook County board president's race, as well as which Democratic U.S. Senate and gubernatorial candidates are performing well in Cook County.
Before we get the party started, though, here's a couple of preliminaries aimed at anyone who's not a polling geek. Read more...
