In an election today for the vacant seat in the US House of Representatives from Illinois’ 11th Congressional District, Democrat Debbie Halvorson defeats Republican Martin Ozinga 50% to 37%, with Green Party candidate Jason Wallace at 9%, according to a SurveyUSA poll conducted for Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill.

Halvorson holds 89% of the Democratic base. Ozinga holds 77% of the Republican base. Independents split, 44% for the Democrat, 30% for the Republican, and 20% for the Green. Halvorson is above 50% among women, voters age 50+ and African Americans. Overwhelmingly, voters say the economy is most important for Congress to fix. Among voters focused on the economy, Halvorson leads by 24 points. Among the admittedly small number of voters who tell SurveyUSA they have already voted, Halvorson leads by even more.

In the district: John McCain has Plus 9 Favorability. Barack Obama has Plus 10 Favorability. Jerry Weller, the Republican who currently represents the district but who is not seeking re-election, has Minus 6 Favorability. Halvorson has Plus 14 Favorability. Ozinga has Minus 8 Favorability. Barack Obama carries the district by 5 points today. John McCain runs 9 points worse than did George W. Bush in 2004. The 11th District is a jig-saw puzzle shape that extends from Joliet on the North to Bloomington on the South. 700 registered voters were interviewed by SurveyUSA using Registration Based Sample from Aristotle in Washington DC. Of the registered voters, 623 were determined by SurveyUSA to have already voted, or to be likely to vote on or before election day.