DeKALB | Surveys conducted Thursday by the NIU Public Opinion Lab indicate that 29.5 percent of Illinois voters are still undecided as to who they will vote for in the upcoming gubernatorial election.

Due to the high percentage of undecided voters, Robert Ard, director of the Public Opinion Lab, expects the voter turnout this November to be low.

“We’ve done these polls before and this is a very high figure for this point in the election,” Ard said. “I think this is indicative that a lot of people won’t vote.”

Normally, when there are just a few days left before an election, more people have made a decision on whom they will vote for, Ard said.

Ard attributes the high undecided percentage to a combination of factors, such as absence of a compelling candidate and 2006 not being a presidential election year.

“It is eye-opening that so many people are still undecided,” Ard said.

The Public Opinion Lab surveyed 200 Illinois voters and Ard said the percentage of undecided voters is significant despite the 7 percent margin of error.

“My guess is that these figures are not going to change that much,” Ard said. “One thing you can take away from that is with an eight percent difference, which has a 7 percent margin of error, our poll is too close to call. Those undecided voters could swing this either way very easily.”

Another indication that this year may have a low voter turnout is that 45 percent agree that their party affiliation has influenced their decision, which Ard says is unusually low.

According to the lab’s results, 33 percent of the respondents said they favor Blagojevich, while 21.8 percent favor Judy Baar Topinka. The Lab “saw a late spike in interest in Rich Whitney,” Green party gubernatorial candidate, which 8.3 percent of Illinois voters.

Ard said the Public Opinion Lab poll shows lower candidate endorsement rates than many other polls because respondents must affirm their choice with no prompting from the surveyors.