Mention the name Rod Blagojevich in Illinois and it’s likely to get an inflamed response. Actually, there’s about a 70 percent chance of it.

Recent polling has put the governor’s approval rating near the same depths as those of both President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress.

From clashing with fellow Democrats to pushing legislation to gain political points, Blagojevich hasn’t been popular with either the people he’s meant to serve or his peers in Springfield. Calls for a recall provision in the Illinois Constitution have come about partly because of unhappiness with him. His friend and political fundraiser Tony Rezko currently awaits sentencing and is reportedly talking to the Feds after being convicted on corruption charges.

“I think part of the problem is that while he promised to be a reformer, he has been implicated in the pay-to-play system in the state,” said Irene Rubin, retired professor of public administration. “He has been stubborn, not compromising, on budget issues and making the legislature stay in session for long periods of time, which has made him fiercely unpopular, especially in the House.”

A bill restricting pay-to-play, the practice of top campaign donors landing state jobs, passed in Springfield earlier this year, but Blagojevich was accused of trying to undermine it along the way.

“He’s been, in my opinion, extraordinarily arrogant,” said political science professor Barbara Burrell. “He just seems to be spending money willy-nilly on his pet projects. His predecessor went to prison; you’d think he would bend over backwards to be clean.”

Blagojevich has already started raising funds for a probable 2010 campaign. After being re-elected just two years ago, anything’s possible, right?

“I seriously doubt it,” Burrell said.

Can he improve his image?

“From what I understand, his issues are character flaws he’s had his whole life,” said Daniel Krouse, freshman business major and member of the College Democrats. “To turn it around, he could step down and have someone else take over.”

Combining the results of two recent polls from the Chicago Tribune and Research Illinois 2000, Blagojevich has a 25 percent approval rating and a 68 percent disapproval rating. The latest polling on Bush, from Pew, found 22 percent approving and 70 percent disapproving. The U.S. Congress, according to CBS/New York Times, has a 17 percent approval rating and a 70 percent disapproval rating.

If Blagojevich comes back for a third term in 2010, that might not be his last go-around: Illinois has no gubernatorial term limits.

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