Obama at 51% in Illinois

Tribune/WGN poll. Indies 54% disapproval on the economy. Suburban women dead heat on job approval.

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If the wind was cold on your arms on Friday, just think about President Barack Obama. He surely must have felt a chill with those horrible jobless numbers released for the Labor Day weekend.

He'd spent upward of $860 billion that we don't have for his so-called economic stimulus plan that didn't work. Now unemployment reaches almost 10 percent — actually more, if you add in all those who have given up trying to find work.

The other theme of the summer was murder, as the people of Chicago are beginning to realize that Mayor Richard Daley's decades-long feud with the rank-and-file of his police department has helped lead to a breakdown of public order.

The homicide numbers may be better than years before, but it sure doesn't feel that way, not with three Chicago police officers killed, two in front of their homes. And babies shot as they jumped rope.

John Kass.

More. Nationally, CNN poll:

"The survey indicates that independents and voters who dislike both parties are starting to break toward the GOP," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "In a year when anger at incumbents is a dominant political force, the key to the election lies among those who aren't rooting for either side."

RCP average here.