The latest of a slew of polls on Virginia's Nov. 3 contest for governor -- this one by Rasmussen Reports and conducted Sept. 29 -- suggests the more surveys that are in the field, the wider the range of possible outcomes.
The Rasmussen poll is the second this week suggesting that Republican nominee Bob McDonnell, a former state Attorney General, has a comfortable lead over Democrat Creigh Deeds, a state senator.
But those polls came directly on the heels of other surveys that showed Deeds has closed to within a low-to-mid single-digit margin.
Rasmussen's poll of 500 Virginians who say they are likely to vote gives McDonnell 51 percent and Deeds 42 percent. A SurveyUSA poll conducted Sept. 26-29 gave McDonnell a 14-point edge, 55 percent to 41 percent.
These results compare with the much-smaller 5-point lead for McDonnell, 48 percent to 43 percent, in a Public Policy Polling survey conducted Sept. 25-28.
The Rasmussen survey showed McDonnell with a higher favorability rating than Deeds, 53 percent to 46 percent, and a lower unfavorability rating, 37 percent to 45 percent.
By 45 percent to 32 percent, Virginia voters preferred McDonnell to Deeds on handling state transportation policy. McDonnell has touted a detailed plan to fund transportation improvements, though Deeds says that the legislature won't accept some of McDonnell's ideas and that using general state revenues for transportation will threaten state education funding. Deeds has said he'll work with Democratic and Republican legislators to fashion a transportation plan, even if it includes new taxes.
Deeds has been promoting an endorsement from Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, a popular former governor, though the poll suggests that Deeds isn't getting much of a lift from it. Thirty-four percent of respondents said that a Warner endorsement won't influence their vote, compared to 30 percent who said it would make them less likely to vote for Deeds and 33 percent who said it would make them more likely to vote for Deeds.
Four in five respondents said that their vote would not be influenced by the decision of former Democratic Gov. Doug Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor, to not endorse a candidate. This was portrayed in some media stories as a blow to Deeds, who needs strong support among Virginia's large and overwhelmingly Democratic black population in order to win.
CQ Politics presently rates the Virginia governor's race as Leans Republican.
To follow the 2009 and 2010 governors' races, check out CQ Politics' election map.
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Comments
It seems that the Virginia electorate has tired of "One-Trick Pony" Deeds' harping on and on and on and on about "Thesis-gate". Got solutions?
Posted by: NObama
| October 1, 2009 6:34 PM
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