As appointed Sen. Roland W. Burris decides whether to ask voters to let him keep his job, a majority of his constituents say they'd just as soon see him go home for good.

Only 6 percent of those surveyed by Rasmussen Reports said they were definitely ready to vote for the Democrat who replaced President Barack Obama in the Senate. Another 61 percent told Rasmussen's researchers they'd made up their minds in the other direction and definitely would vote against Burris if given the chance.

A month earlier, Rasmussen asked the same question and found that 54 percent were ready to vote against Burris.

Illinois Republicans may have to start working on different strategies for 2010, depending on who wins the other party's Senate primary.

A poll released Thursday showed that Sen. Roland W. Burris, D-Ill., would lose by more than 2-1 to his most-likely Republican opponent, Rep. Mark Steven Kirk. In that theoretical head-to-head matchup, Kirk would be favored by 53 percent and Burris by 19 percent of voters.

The survey by Public Policy Polling found that if Burris isn't his party's nominee, the landscape for Kirk is much different.

She's not a candidate yet, but Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan would be strong favorite if she decides to run for either governor or senator, according to the latest voter survey by Public Policy Polling.

The survey of 415 likely Democratic primary voters April 24-26 found that Madigan leads current Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn by 16 points, 45 percent to 29 percent, even though 56 percent of the respondents said they're happy with Quinn's job performance so far. Only 14 percent disapproved of his performance.

But Madigan drew a 74 percent favorable rating from respondents, which helps to explain why 44 percent of those surveyed said they would support her over other possible Democratic primary contestants, including Sen. Roland W. Burris, in a 2010 race for the Senate.

More Illinois voters want to see Gov. Pat Quinn run for Senate in 2010 than newly-appointed Sen. Roland Burris, according to a poll conducted for the Chicago Tribune Feb. 4-5. This was conducted before Burris admitted on Feb. 14 that he spoke with the brother of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich about fundraising.

Forty-eight percent of registered voters would like to see Quinn run, 15 percent do not want him to run and 37 percent are undecided. Those numbers are in the same range among Democrats, Republicans and independents alike. Voters want to see Burris run by a narrower margin - 37 percent to 33 percent with 29 percent undecided. Burris' disadvantage is among independents and Republicans who want to see him run by 36 percent and 29 percent respectively.

Burris was seen favorably before his latest admissions by 34 percent of voters while 18 percent viewed him negatively and 43 percent expressed no opinion. Quinn's favorable to unfavorable ratio was 49 percent to 6 percent with 40 percent having no opinion.

An early look-ahead at the 2010 Senate race in Illinois when newly-appointed Democrat Roland Burris - the choice of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich - is up for re-election shows Burris and other potential Democratic candidates running ahead of Republicans who might enter the race, according to a Research 2000 poll conducted Jan. 26-28.

Of course, Burris has to nail down his party's nomination first. Research 2000 tested him in a potential primary contest against six-term Rep. Jan Schakowsky and State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and had Burris at 26 percent, Schakowsky at 12 percent and Giannoulias at 11 percent. But 51 percent were undecided. Burris is obviously better known than the other two given all the recent publicity heaped upon him. Fifty-seven percent have no opinion on Schakowsky and 49 percent have no opinion of Giannoulias, but that number is a lesser 30 percent for Burris.

Fifty-two percent of Americans following the spectacle of the now-we-fill-it, now-we-don't Illinois Senate seat say the right thing to do is hold a special election as soon as possible, rather than accepting Gov. Rod Blagojevich's appointment of Roland Burris or letting the seat stay open until the issue is resolved, according to a Gallup poll conducted Jan. 5.

Only 16 percent favor letting Burris, the state's former attorney general, serve until 2010 and 23 percent said the seat should remain open until the issue of whether the appointment should stand is resolved.

Looking at the controversy along partisan lines, 61 percent of Republicans said the Senate should block Burris from filling the seat while pluralities of 49 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of independents feel the same way. Republicans feel the strongest that the seat should be filled by holding a special election as soon as possible.