Less than two weeks before the second round of the Chicago mayoral election, which will be held on April 4, new polls show that the gap between former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Wallace and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson is getting smaller.
According to the results of the latest survey conducted by Victory Research, Wallas is still in the lead with 46.3%.
The poll shows that voters are already making up their minds about the candidates as the race enters the finish line, and the number of respondents who said they were undecided has decreased from 16% to 9.6%. In addition to undecided voters, almost one in six respondents said they could still change their minds.
According to Victory Research sociologist Rod McCulloch, Latino voters and residents of the northern part of the lake shore are the two groups that remain most “in the game.” Although Wallace is slightly ahead of Johnson, he failed to score 50% in any of the groups, as the survey shows.
Two weeks ago, a poll showed Wallace leading among female voters by almost 4 points, but now Johnson is leading among women. Men give the advantage to Wallace by more than 6.5 points.
There are also sharp racial and geographical differences in the survey.
White voters support Wallace by a margin of 71.7% to 21.9%, while black voters support Johnson by a margin of 73.6% to 16.1%. Johnson also holds leading positions on the South Side and West Side.
The survey of 806 likely Chicago voters was conducted from March 20 to March 23. It has a margin of error of 3.45% and was conducted over the phone.
This week, both mayoral candidates continued to be supported by participants who dropped out of the election race earlier.
Wallas was supported by former opponents of Ja’Mal Green and Willie Wilson, former Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, former Governor Pat Quinn and former U.S. House of Representatives Member Bobby Rush.
Johnson was supported by former opponents Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and member of the state House of Representatives Cam Buckner, Reverend Jesse Jackson, U.S. Representatives James Clyburn, Jan Schakowski, Jonathan Jackson, Danny Davis and Delia Ramirez, former Cook County clerk David Orr.