Poll Tracker

Tuesday's election for Virginia governor is looking like a landslide victory for Republican nominee Bob McDonnell, according to a pair of polls conducted Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

A Public Policy Polling survey put McDonnell ahead of Democratic nominee Creigh Deeds by 56 percent to 42 percent. A SurveyUSA poll gave McDonnell an even larger advantage, 58 percent to 40 percent.

This pre-primary polling suggests that McDonnell could match the 58 percent vote share of Republican George Allen in 1993 or the 56 percent vote share of Republican Jim Gilmore in 1997. Regardless of McDonnell's margin of victory, he is assured of preventing Democrats from following up on the victories of Democrats Mark Warner in 2001 and Tim Kaine in 2005.

In the PPP survey, more respondents view Deeds unfavorably than favorably, and he trails McDonnell by 63 percent to 33 percent among political independents. In the SurveyUSA poll, McDonnell had a 60 percent to 35 percent lead among independents and is even winning 18 percent of self-described Democrats and 19 percent of African-American voters.

More than three in five people surveyed by PPP said that McDonnell was going to win the election, and two in three said that Deeds hadn't made a strong case for why he should be elected governor.

CQ Politics rates the Virginia governor's race as Likely Republican.

To follow the 2009 and 2010 governors' races, check out CQ Politics' election map.