A third of likely voters in November’s elections have no idea which of the five candidates for Chicago School Board president they’d vote for, or if they’d vote at all, according to a poll released Thursday that provides one of the first looks at the state of the historic contest.
The survey of 600 likely voters, which was commissioned by candidate Sendhil Revuluri’s campaign and conducted last week, found that even after hearing brief biographies about each candidate pulled from campaign materials, 34% of likely voters remained undecided or said they’d skip voting in the race.
None of the five hopefuls received overwhelming support. The poll found that 20% of likely voters would pick Hilario Dominguez, former political director for the Chicago Teachers Union, if the election were held today. Attorney Victor Henderson was next in line with support from 14% of likely voters.
Candidates who had experience serving on the board had the least support. Former board member Revuluri and sitting board member Jessica Biggs each got the backing of 11% of likely voters, while 9% said they’d vote for Jennifer Custer.
The findings indicate candidates still have work to do to distinguish themselves and that many voters are in the dark about a citywide race happening in less than three months. Though that isn’t a surprise because previous polls found few Chicago residents were aware that voters will choose all 21 members of the Chicago School Board for the first time this fall.
Ethan Axelrod, of David Binder Research, which conducted the poll, said upwards of 80% of likely voters didn’t have an opinion on any of the candidates before they heard more about them. He said the survey shows Chicagoans are still getting to know the candidates and aren’t yet paying attention.
“They’re open to each of these candidates, really,” Axelrod said. “It’s a very fluid race.”
It’s also an expensive one. So far, most donations to school board candidates have poured into the president’s race.
The survey was conducted from Aug. 10 to 13 by phone and online and had a 4% margin of error.
Many likely voters seemed ready for a change. Six in 10 respondents said they disapproved of the job being done by the current school board.
And when presented with two approaches to address the district’s $732 million deficit, just over half said they’d be more likely to vote for a candidate who can “make the hard calls,” while 36% said they’d choose someone who will “fight” for more state money, as the current board recently decided in an 11-7 vote.
In one surprising finding, likely voters were nearly split on the issue of school closures.
Only 46% of respondents said they were more likely to vote for someone who is “strongly opposed” to closing and consolidating schools, while 42% said they would be less likely to support a candidate with that view.
The issue has frequently come up in campaign messaging given the fallout from the district’s mass school closures in 2013. Some candidates have come out strongly against closing schools when a districtwide moratorium lifts, or have tried to paint their opponents as advocates for closing schools.
“The fact that it’s as evenly divided as it is I think speaks to voters’ increasing awareness of the budget issues facing the district,” Axelrod said.