Public Policy Polling was “in the field” in Virginia this past weekend, and they’re now coming out with their results. A few highlights.
1. “Bob McDonnell’s net approval rating has dropped 12 points in the last month, and that for the first time since taking office he’s under water. Only 36% of voters approve of the job he’s doing to 41% who disapprove.” [UPDATE: “Very conservative” voters continue to approve of McDonnell by a 57%-19% margin, with “somewhat conservative” voters approving by a 53%-26% margin. Moderates, “somewhat liberal” and “very liberal” voters all disapprove of McDonnell, big time.]
2. “McDonnell’s favorability numbers are even worse than his approval numbers with just 32% of voters seeing him in a positive light to 45% who have a negative opinion.” [UPDATE: Same deal as with the net approval numbers…conservatives still view McDonnell favorably by wide margins, everyone else is wayyyy unfavorable.]
3. “There is one piece of good news for McDonnell in the poll though- only 35% of voters think he should resign at this point to 45% who believe he should remain in office.” [UPDATE: Among “very conservative” voters, 70% say he shouldn’t resign, with just 11% saying he should. Among “somewhat conservative” voters, 69% say he shouldn’t and 21% say he should. In other words, McDonnell has NOT – repeat NOT! – lost his conservative base by any means, at least as of now.]
4. “The bottom line though is McDonnell has become a liability for Republican candidates in the state this year, and our newest numbers for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General which will be out tomorrow confirm that.”
I’m most interested in point #4 – that McDonnell’s becoming a liability for the Cuccinelli/Jackson/Obenshain “Extreme Team” ticket. The problem for those guys is that it’s quite possible McDonnell will NOT step down as governor or be impeached, at least not for a while, meaning this could drag on and on, potentially dragging them down and down. So sad. Heh.
UPDATE: Having looked at the “internals,” I’m also VERY interested in the fact that conservatives are still strongly supporting McDonnell. It seems to me that makes it much less likely he’ll be pressured by Republicans to resign, which in turn means he could stay on until the end of his term. Ken Cuccinelli might not like it, but most conservatives apparently see it differently.
P.S. Also interesting, voters by a 2:1 (31%-15%) margin say that McDonnell’s support would make them LESS likely to vote for a Republican candidate for the House of Delegates. Whoops! Also, strictly among Republican voters, 60% say that McDonnell’s support would make no difference to them, while 23% say it would make them more likely to vote for the candidate, and 10% less likely.
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