Giannoulias, Kirk Tied In Newest Illinois Senate Poll

About the only thing Mark Kirk and Alexi Giannoulias seem to have in common these days is their ugly polling numbers.

According to a new Rasmussen poll released Wednesday, the two candidates for Illinois's U.S. Senate seat remain neck-and-neck, with each receiving 40 percent of the respondents' votes.

Eight percent of respondents preferred another candidate, and another 12 percent were still undecided.

The race has been a dead heat in Rasmussen polling since early June. Neither candidate has had a lead larger than the margin of error in that poll since Mark Kirk's 46-39 edge on April 28th.

Rasmussen writes that those who reported strong opinions are generally more telling at this relatively early stage in the race than the overall numbers.

For Republican Mark Kirk, plagued by scandals around his exaggerated resume, was viewed very favorably by only 10 percent of those polled; 20 percent described their opinion of Kirk as "very unfavorable." This is up from a 14 percent very-unfavorable rating in the last poll three weeks ago.

Giannoulias, his Democratic opponent, who has also been dogged by a scandal of his own surrounding his Broadway Bank days, looks just as dismal. 11 percent viewed him very favorably, while 28 percent had a very unfavorable opinion of him. This, however, was in line with previous polls.

Along with Kirk's rising unfavorables, Giannoulias had one more heartening piece of news in the poll: he held a six-point lead among voters who described themselves as "moderate."

Still, between the unending scandals and a generally dissatisfied electorate, this race looks like it will be won by the candidate who voters dislike the least. Sound familiar?