Illinois REALTORS® Senior Vice President Greg St. Aubin (left) and REALTOR® Jim Kinney talk to Gene Ulm, a partners with Pubic Opinion Strategies. Photo: Stephanie Sievers

Want to know how the political winds are blowing?

Ask one simple question: ​Is the country going in the right direction?

“This shapes the architecture of the electorate,” said Gene Ulm a political strategist and pollster with more than 25 years of experience. “If I had to use one question in a survey, it would be this one.”

Ulm was speaking at the Illinois REALTORS® Public Policy Meetings held in East Peoria. He spoke at the RPAC Recognition Luncheon on Wednesday. The PowerPoint is here.

​Ulm, a partner with Public Opinion Strategies, ​said “anger drives elections, not happiness.”

And in the 2016 election cycle, there was plenty of anger.

“Voter anger got him (Trump) back into the game,” Ulm said.

The election cycle was marked by a loss of faith in established institutions and a desire for increased security, both in economic and geopolitical terms, Ulm said.

The electoral landscape is also marked by increased polarization and a belief that elites just don’t understand the issues of real Americans, he said.