Survey: Illinois Democrats want ranked choice voting
FairVote and FairVote Illinois conducted a survey of 523 Illinois Democrats leading up to the state’s 2026 primary election. Two-thirds of Illinois Democrats support bringing ranked choice voting (RCV) to future Illinois elections.
We chose to poll Illinois Democrats this month because of the party’s unusually crowded primary fields for an open U.S. Senate seat and four open U.S. House seats. 56 candidates ran for the Democratic nomination across these five primary elections, held on March 17.
Voters are interested in ranked choice voting for all types of elections
After a brief explanation of ranked choice voting, 65% of respondents said they would support using RCV in Illinois, compared to just 17% opposed.
Table 1: Opinion on ranked choice voting
| Question | Yes | No | Not sure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two states and dozens of cities use ranked choice voting, including New York City, Minneapolis, and Washington, DC. With ranked choice voting, voters can rank the candidates in order of preference (1st choice, 2nd choice, and so on). If your first choice doesn’t have a chance to win, your vote counts for your backup choice. Would you support using ranked choice voting in Illinois? | 65% | 17% | 18% |
There are multiple options for how Illinois voters could use RCV, so we also tested whether voters feel differently about it for different elections. RCV has at least 66% support for each type of election we asked about. These differences are not statistically significant.
Table 2: Ranked choice voting for different types of elections
| Question | Yes | No | Not sure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presidential primaries: Over 20 Democrats are considering running for president in 2028. Some states already use ranked choice voting for presidential primaries. Would you support ranked choice voting for presidential primaries in Illinois in 2028? | 66% | 18% | 16% |
| Municipal: Three Illinois cities have voted to use ranked choice voting but they can’t start using it without approval from the state. Would you support a state law that allows cities to use ranked choice voting for local elections, like Mayor or City Council? | 69% | 16% | 15% |
| Primaries only: Some places, like New York City, use ranked choice voting only for primary elections. Would you support Illinois adopting ranked choice voting for future primary elections when there are many candidates on the ballot to choose from? | 67% | 17% | 16% |
Survey methodology
FairVote and FairVote Illinois engaged the market research software provider Centiment to survey Democrats in Illinois, ages 18+. The survey was in the field from March 13-16, 2026. Centiment offered the tool to build our survey and the pool of qualified panelists to answer it. Panelists sign up to provide their feedback in exchange for a monetary reward. As part of the onboarding process, panelists are run through a series of security checks before reporting profile data that the company uses to invite them to qualified studies. Leveraging the company’s existing profile data, we quickly targeted Democrats in Illinois, ages 18+, and completed the study after four days in the field.
Survey findings are also available for download here.
About FairVote Illinois
FairVote Illinois is leading the work to bring ranked choice voting to Illinois. Find more about their work here.
