New poll shows approval rating for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson

Election season is in full swing. Early voting expanding across the city and the suburbs today as a race for Chicago mayor enters a new phase. Gabriela Primus joins us live now. All right, what is happening today, Gabby? Oh my goodness. Well, it's a big day for voters, for candidates. First, let's talk about early voting expanding from the two downtown sites, the super site behind me, and of course, the Chicago Board of Elections site to all 50 Chicago wards. So if you have a polling site in your neighborhood you want to stop there in the coming weeks before November 3rd then go on ahead if you live in the city any one of them is really open to you and another big election step that's happening across the street from the super site candidates running for mayor must turn in at least 12,500 valid signatures from registered voters to qualify for the ballot we've told you this before they have technically until Monday October 26th to turn in that paperwork. And so you'll see candidates submit heavy bound stacks of petition sheets containing those thousands of signatures. Here's actually, I believe, a live look from inside that building, or at least outside. I'm seeing the long line here on State Street in the loop. Under election rules, all candidates who are in line when the doors open on the first morning of filing are treated as having submitted their paperwork all at the same time. That's why a lot of them are here today, if they have those signatures, being in line before doors open, enters a candidate into an official lottery drawing for the number one spot on the ballot. Candidates believe, of course, being listed first on that ballot gives them advantage with undecided voters. The candidate filing window, though, applies to all municipal offices, not just mayor, but also city clerk, city treasurer, police district council members, alderpersons across all 50 city wards. So you're not just seeing, I mean, it is crowded for the mayoral race, but not that crowded. But guys, all of this comes right as a brand new North Pole reported by the Chicago Tribune gives us our latest look at how Chicagoans are feeling about Mayor Brandon Johnson in this race. Looking at job approval for Mayor Johnson, here are the numbers. 53% of Chicagoans say they disapprove of his job performance. 25% remain undecided or have no opinion. 22% say they approve. More numbers here when we look at excitement for potential candidates among likely voters. 59% express enthusiasm for Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, 46% for Comptroller Susana Mendoza, 32% for Mayor Johnson, and 34% of likely voters say they are still undecided. Look, it's still in the early days. More than a third of voters are still up for grabs here. Things are going to keep on heating up as we get closer to that February date. Again, early voting expanding today. So if you want to get in early on your civic duty. You could do that across all 50 Chicago wards. Chicago Board of Elections website is a good place to look if you want to see what's your status for voter registration. This is an important one. So hopefully we see a lot of people there before even November 3rd. If you can't, that's election day. All right, Nat, I'll send it back to you. All right. Thank you, Gabby.