Poll: Downstate voters more likely to consider voting for candidates accused of sexual harassment

CARBONDALE — Results released Friday based on a recent poll by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University show that divisions in Illinois are deep along party lines about whether the #MeToo Movement has given people a better understanding of sexual harassment.

"Each new case of sexual harassment that comes out is undergirded by a larger national conversation over definitions," said Shiloh Deitz, who contributed to the poll work. "This is part of what makes this issue so sticky."

The poll also found that downstate voters — those outside of Chicago and its collar counties — are more likely to consider voting for candidates who have been accused of sexual harassment. Republicans and men also are more likely to consider voting for candidates who have been accused of sexual harassment, according to a news release from the institute that outlines the poll results.

The poll sampled 1,001 Illinois voters by phone. Sexual harassment was defined as broadly unwanted, sexually connoted behavior or intent that recipients find offensive of threatening, according to the release.

Read more: https://thesouthern.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/poll-downstate-illinois-voters-more-likely-to-consider-voting-for/article_8649240a-8bd9-57b6-be22-d12b8bb05bed.html