Ask Illinoisans whether they want the Bears to stay and many say yes. Ask whether taxpayers should help pay for a new stadium and the answer flips. That pattern shows up in every poll I could find — but there is a big gap: no independent poll of Arlington Heights residents has been published since 2022.
WGN/Emerson, January 2026
A WGN-TV/Emerson College poll of 1,000 Illinois residents, taken January 3–5, 2026, found that 58% oppose using public money to help build a new Bears stadium. The margin of error was about plus or minus 3 points.
University of Illinois Springfield, March 2026
A statewide survey of 1,000 residents by UIS’s Center for State Policy and Leadership dug deeper into how people want a stadium paid for:
- More than 69% said funding should be mostly private.
- About 16% preferred a 50/50 public-private split; about 14% said mostly public.
- 28.9% said it was very important that the Bears stay in Illinois — while 30.3% said it was not important at all.
- Among the policy choices offered, letting the Bears leave without public money was the most popular, and beating Indiana’s offer was the least popular.
That last finding matters for the veto session: the option lawmakers are reportedly negotiating — a package meant to compete with Indiana — was the least popular choice in this survey, though a public authority that owns the stadium with no direct construction money may be framed differently than the options respondents were shown.
Arlington Heights residents, 2022
The only Arlington Heights-specific poll I found dates to August 2022 and was sponsored by Americans for Prosperity Illinois, a group that opposes taxpayer subsidies. It found about 71% of residents wanted the Bears to come to the village and about 68% did not want taxpayers to pay for the stadium. The mayor at the time, Tom Hayes, criticized the questions as slanted. Because of the sponsor and the age of the data, treat it as a rough signal only.
What we don’t know
- How Arlington Heights residents feel now, after the Hammond vote and the 2026 legislative fights.
- How neighbors in Palatine, Rolling Meadows, Mount Prospect and Buffalo Grove feel.
- Whether support changes when the question is about infrastructure money only, rather than the stadium itself.
If a credible local poll is released, I’ll add it here. I may also run an informal reader poll — clearly labeled as unscientific — so residents can weigh in.