VA Governor 2009: Race Tightening?
Posted Sep 04, 2009 at 9:50 AM
Maurice Berger, Political Director, PollTrack
According to one survey, the race for Virginia Governor has tightened up considerably over the past month, with Republican Bob McDonnell "now leading Creigh Deeds 49% to 42%. A PPP survey released in early August had the contest at 51% to 37%. The main reason for the narrowing is increased interest in the election among Democratic voters. While we were looking at an electorate for this fall that supported John McCain by an 11 point margin a month ago, that’s now narrowed to 4 points as more Obama supporters express their intention to vote in the off year election. The key to this race continues to be the significant imbalance among independent voters. They support McDonnell by a margin of 60% to 29%. That’s been a trend in our polls, as the Republican held leads of 19 and 21 points with those voters in our July and August surveys. Attacks on McDonnell do appear to be having some effect: his favorability has seen a slight decline from 54/26 a month ago to now 53/31. Deeds’ numbers are now 47/35, relatively similar to 43/32 on the previous survey." Yet, another, even more recent poll by Rasmussen, indicates that little has changed, with McDonnell's lead at a solid +9%--51% to 42%.
