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Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot finds herself in a deadlocked race — and trailing in a potential runoff — according to a new poll released Wednesday ahead of the Feb. 28 election.
The new poll from Telemundo Chicago, NBC 5, the Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ shows three candidates clumped at the top — Democratic Rep. Jesús "Chuy" García at 20%, former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas at 18% and Lightfoot at 17% among likely voters polled by Mason-Dixon Polling.
Businessman Willie Wilson follows at 12%, with Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson at 11%, and no other candidate above 2%.
Eighteen percent of those likely voters remain undecided, and the margins at the top are all within the poll's 4% margin of error.
The split makes a runoff between the top two candidates likely (a runoff is triggered if no candidate wins a majority).
The poll finds Lightfoot trailing Garcia by 14% in a runoff between the two of them, and trailing Vallas 13% in a runoff against him. Garcia leads Vallas by 11% in a runoff between the two.
Lightfoot is viewed unfavorably by 54%, with just 22% saying they view her favorable. In more tough news for the incumbent, 61% say they disapprove of Lightfoot's tenure as mayor, and 71% say the city is on the wrong track.
Mason-Dixon polled 625 likely voters between Jan. 31 and Feb. 3. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4%.