Aurelia Pucinski is not Edward Vrdolyak, and that`s a good enough reason for most voters to support her over the controversial former Chicago alderman in their race for clerk of Cook County Circuit Court, a new Tribune poll shows.
Democrat Pucinski holds a commanding lead of 55 percent to 27 percent over Republican Vrdolyak among likely voters in the November countywide contest, according to the poll, and two-thirds of those favoring her say their dislike for Vrdolyak is a major reason to vote for her.
The breadth of Vrdolyak`s unpopularity and the extent of Pucinski`s dominance in every major voter category in Cook County are among the most salient findings of the poll, conducted June 23 to 26 by Market Shares Corp. of Mt. Prospect.
About 30 percent of Pucinski voters said they would cast ballots against Vrdolyak, rather than for her. In fact, among her voters, 10 percent said they had never heard of her and 28 percent said they had no opinion of her.
She is ahead among city, suburban, white, black and Hispanic voters by substantial margins, the poll indicates. In addition, her voters are vastly more committed to her than Vrdolyak`s voters are to him.
Vrdolyak`s high negative ratings indicate that he is the chief-and perhaps the only-issue in the campaign at this point. He can take solace only in the fact that he leads among Republicans, who are in the minority in Cook County.
Among other voting groups that might be expected to back him, Vrdolyak does no better than his opponent. Among white South Side voters, for example, the two finished in a statistical tie.
For Pucinski, a Metropolitan Sanitary District commissioner who has sought to portray herself as a noncombative politician of integrity, the message that she represents a new era in Chicago politics appears to be working in her favor, the poll suggests.
About four of five Pucinski backers said they are for her because she has a ”higher standard of conduct and ethics.” Almost 70 percent of Democrats polled picked Pucinski, who won the nomination over former Mayor Jane Byrne, because she represents ”a change in political leaders.”
On the other hand, Vrdolyak`s ”Who would you hire?” campaign theme of competency and experience has taken hold with his supporters, the poll suggests.
”Good at getting things done” was listed by 86 percent of Vrdolyak`s backers as a major reason for voting for him. Three-quarters of Vrdolyak`s voters said his record in office was a major reason for their support.
On the other hand, Vrdolyak`s campaign against new taxes-the centerpiece of his effort to woo Chicago ethnic and suburban voters into the Republican fold-does not appear to have become a significant issue for him. Poll respondents rated him and+Pucinski+equally favorably when it comes to holding the line on taxes.
Vrdolyak, who converted to the GOP last fall, voiced opposition to Republican Gov. James Thompson`s unsuccessful proposal to raise the state income tax by 40 percent, a position that found agreement among 52 percent of white voters and 58 percent of Vrdolyak`s strong supporters.
But Vrdolyak, who lost a hard-fought campaign to the late Mayor Harold Washington in 1987, is one of the most unpopular political figures in Cook County, according to the poll. Of 10 names tested among Cook County voters, Vrdolyak fared the worst based on their favorable and unfavorable ratings.
White Chicagoans still view Vrdolyak more favorably than unfavorably, but only by a slight margin, and his positive rating among these voters has declined by 14 points since an earlier Tribune poll last December. Suburban whites also gave Vrdolyak slightly more positive than negative assessments in the latest poll.
Pucinski, by contrast, is favorably viewed by 42 percent of whites in Cook County, as opposed to only 11 percent who said they view her unfavorably. Intriguingly, 15 percent of Cook County voters and 11 percent of whites said they have still not heard of the daughter of Ald. Roman Pucinski (41st). This suggests that Vrdolyak still has room to define her negatively among some voters, but probably not enough to reverse her strong lead at this time.
In the two other races for countywide offices, two-thirds of all voters have never heard of Terry Gainer, the Republican challenger to Cook County State`s Atty. Richard M. Daley, or State Rep. Carol Moseley Braun, the Democratic candidate for Cook County recorder of deeds, the poll found.
Ald. Bernard Stone (50th), Republican candidate for recorder of deeds, is better known. He has name recognition by about two-thirds of those polled. But few who know about him have formed a firm opinion of him, either positive or negative.
Daley, seeking re-election to a third term, has complete name recognition, the highest favorable ratings of all politicians tested in the survey and a 74 percent job approval rating. His job approval is 81 percent among whites, 80 percent among Hispanics and 65 percent among blacks.
HOW THE POLL WAS CONDUCTED
The findings of this Tribune poll are based on interviews with a random sample of 914 registered voters in Chicago and suburban Cook County.
In a sample of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that results will differ by no more than 3 percentage points from results obtained if all voters in the area had been polled. Results based on subgroups within the overall sample will have a larger potential error margin. Hispanic voters were oversampled to improve statistical reliability and weighted in the results to represent their true proportion of the total voter population.
Interviews were conducted by telephone June 23 to 26. Poll research was prepared and analyzed by The Tribune and by Market Shares Corp. of Mt. Prospect.
