http://cbs2chicago.com/topstories/local_story_222175640.htmlCHICAGO (CBS 2) Illinois' senate race is heating up with both Democrat Barack Obama and new Republican candidate Alan Keyes in town pressing the flesh and warming up to voters.
The Republican candidate in this race may just be getting started, but according to an exclusive new CBS 2/Newsradio 780 poll, Keyes has a long way to go. 67 percent of Illinois voters prefer Democrat Obama; 28 percent would choose Keyes.
Keyes and his supporters were feeling the heat of the August sun as he announced for U.S. Senate at a crowded rally in Arlington Heights. Our exclusive voter opinion survey shows Obama generating another kind of heat.
Obama's lead in our CBS 2/Newsradio 780 Survey was most pronounced among women voters, 74 percent to 21percent for Keyes. Among men, it was 59 percent to 36 percent.
There was no surprise in strongly Democratic Chicago: 79 percent for Obama, 16 percent for Keyes.
But in the heavily Republican collar counties, it was Obama with 62 percent, Keyes with 34 percent.
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Even downstate, 56 percent of those polled preferred Obama to 38 percent for Keyes. The results were almost the same in rural areas: 57 percent to 39 percent.
Virtually every Democrat we talked to favored Obama. Among independent voters, 64 percent chose Obama, 30 percent chose Keyes. Even among Republicans, 27 percent defected to Obama, 67 percent chose Keyes.
White voters went 62 percent to 32 percent for Obama; black voters by a margin of 89 percent to 10 percent.
The poll was conducted by Survey USA this past Friday and Saturday. It is accurate to within plus or minus four percentage points.