Yesterday, the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University came out with its new poll results for Virginia 2017 Democratic and Republican gov. and LG primary matchups. Now, they’re out with general election matchups. Here are the highlights.
- “If the fall race for Virginia governor is between former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie and current Democratic Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam, voters are split 40% to 39%.”
- “If the election is between Gillespie and former Democratic congressman Tom Perriello, voters are split almost identically, 39% to 39%.”
- “Ideological moderates are divided, while political independents favor Gillespie over either Democrat by an identical margin: 40% to 30%.”
- “In a November matchup, both Northam and Perriello beat the other two Republicans seeking the nomination, Prince William County Supervisors Chair Corey Stewart and Virginia Beach state Senator Frank Wagner.”
- “With all 100 House of Delegates seats up in November, Democrats lead Republicans in the generic ballot test, 48% to 41%.”
- Major gender gap as usual, with women going by 11-12 points for the Democratic gubernatorial nominee and men going 14-15 points for likely Republican nominee Ed Gillespie.
- Also as usual (sad to say), whites go by 13-15 points for Gillespie over the Democratic nominee, while blacks (and presumably Latinos and Asians, although they’re not broken out in this poll’s results) go overwhelmingly for the Democratic nominee.
In sum, this poll shows a close race for governor – would we have it any other way in Virginia? LOL – and one in which, at least in terms of electability, it doesn’t seem to matter who Democrat nominate to face Ed Gillespie.
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