Between Blagojevich, Ryan, Walker or the bevy of other Illinois politicians involved in scandals, Illinois voters think corruption is commonplace according to a new Paul Simon Public Policy Institute poll.

The Institute asked 1,001 registered voters across the state six questions regarding how common voters believe political corruption is.

David Yepsen, director of the institute, said the outcome is upsetting.

“People have a real understanding that this state has a problem,” Yepsen said. “It doesn’t surprise me as much as it makes me sad because this tells me our political leaders have got some real image problems.”

The six questions were divided into categories consisting of local, state and national, and determined how much impact local corruption has on Illinoisans’ lives and how much impact state corruption has on Illinoisans’ lives.

The research found that voters believe Illinois is more corrupt than the rest of the nation by nearly 10 percent.

The poll was conducted Feb. 12 through 25, by Customer Research International of San Macros, Texas, a firm hired by the institution for $13,000.

Yepsen said the money comes from the institution’s endowment fund. He said the money is used to make sure the survey is credible.

“(The firm hired) has nothing to do with Illinois politics. We want this poll to be very credible,” he said.

Charles Leonard, a visiting professor who helps direct the institute’s polls, said the firm conducted the poll by making phone calls, 30 percent of which were conducted through cell phones.

This is the sixth year the institution has conducted this poll. The institution does one statewide poll each year and one southern Illinois poll each year, consisting of the southern most 18 counties.

Leonard said the most frightening statistic is about 90 percent of people think federal corruption is either very common or somewhat common.

“There are so many instances of misbehavior by political officials in Illinois that the voters can be forgiven for thinking that (corruption) is common and widespread,” Leonard said.

Eighty-five percent of those living in Chicago believe county or city political corruption is at least somewhat common and 55 percent believe local corruption is very common, according to the poll.

The research found that 60 percent of the Illinois voters downstate believe the state is “very common” in state politics corruption. 115th District Representative Mike Bost, a Republican from Murphysboro, said he is surprised the number is not higher.

“In the last 60 years, every governor expect for two have either gone to jail while they were governor or after they had been,” Bost said. “Illinois – I mean come on – look at the history of how many people are in jail.”

Yepsen said the state must do more to “clean itself up” and restore public confidence. He said one way the state could do so is to allow the public to pick their leaders, as opposed to politicians choosing their constituents.

“Remember two years ago – there was a state legislature who was caught on tape taking a bribe from a federal officer,” Bost said. “We went into special session and voted him out of office and his constituents voted him back in.”

Better audits and more vigorous prosecutions may help Illinois corruption, Yepsen said.

Bost said corruption in Illinois can not be fixed because the state has “some of the toughest ethics laws” in the United States.

“I give a speech when we pass through ethic laws, and here’s what I say, ‘All we’re doing here today, is we’re passing laws that we are claiming that will make you more ethical,” he said. “But if you’re already unethical, all you’re going to do is find a way to get around the law.”

Yepsen said despite the prevailing feeling that Chicago is corrupt, there is plenty of corruption in downstate Illinois.

“People in downstate are less likely to think they have a corruption in government than they do in Chicago… But there is plenty of corruption in downstate Illinois,” he said.

Yepsen said this persona and reputation hurts economic development. The Illinois Policy Institute predicted the state to be 50th in the nation in job growth for 2014 in January.

“Who wants to put a business in a state where it’s perceived to be as rotten as this one?” Yepsen said.

Luke Nozicka can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @lukenozicka or 536-3311 ext. 283.