GOP Pleased by New Polling in State Congressional Races

Newly released polling data Tuesday gives GOP leaders something to smile about as both parties spend millions of dollars in campaign ads in several hotly contested Illinois Congressional races. With the newly redrawn congressional maps which were drawn by the Illinois Democratic majority, political observers have been carefully watching to see if the Republicans, who won a majority in the House in a landslide election in 2010, would be losing any of those seats in Illinois. However, new polling shows in the six most contested state races, Republicans are winning in all six although several are close. The most hotly contested race locally is the 17th which pits incumbent Bobby Schilling against Democrat Cheri Bustos. New polling shows Schilling pulling away from Bustos 51 to 44. 45 percent of those polled had a favorable opinion of Schillling while 34 percent had a favorable opinion of Bustos. The same poll found President Obama leading Mitt Romney in the 17th district by a 50 to 44 margin. The GOP leadership claims all six Republicans are attracting broad support from key independent swing voters. The election is three weeks away.