More than half of the 625 people surveyed in a new poll said that they do not want to see the Bears ditch their "iconic lakefront colonnades in favor of a new stadium in Arlington Heights,” according to Mitchell Armentrout of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES. According to the poll results from the Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ/Telemundo Chicago/WMAQ-NBC, “about as many” respondents said that they “don’t want their tax dollars to fund a dome over Soldier Field in order to persuade the McCaskey family to stay put” either. Armentrout notes only 23% of respondents said that they want the team to move to Arlington Heights, compared to 25% who said that they “want the team to bear down along Du Sable Lake Shore Drive.” The poll also showed respondents “were more evenly split” on the question of “public funding for another Soldier Field renovation.” On the question, about 42% “supported using taxpayer money,” to renovate the stadium, compared to “51% opposed and 7% undecided.” The poll was conducted Jan. 31-Feb. 3 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, Inc. and has a "margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points." Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and “most” of her eight challengers in the mayoral election have said that “they’d lobby to keep the Bears in Chicago, but haven’t said how much money they’d put into Soldier Field upgrades” (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 2/10).
