And Yet Another New Poll: Northam 42%-Gillespie 42%; Fairfax 36%-Vogel 35%; Herring 39%-Adams 37%

This new poll by Suffolk U. has a slight (4-point) self-identification edge for Democrats (38%) over Republicans (34%) among “likely voters” in Virginia. This compares to the UMW poll released this morning, which had Democrats with a 7-point lead over Republicans in party ID.  With that caveat, here are the highlights.

• The poll has the gubernatorial race tied, 42% each, for Democrat Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie among “likely voters.” The poll has just 3% for Libertarian Cliff Hyra and 16% undecided.
• Donald Trump clocks in with a 42%-51% favorable/unfavorable rating. Tim Kaine is at 47%-41%; Mark Warner at 54%-30%, Terry McAuliffe at 44%-37%; Ralph Northam at 29%-22%; Ed Gillespie at 37%-28%; and the U.S. Congress at 15%-69%.
• Among Hyra voters, their second choice would overwhelmingly be Ed Gillespie (62%) over Ralph Northam (23%).
• By a huge margin, 67%-17%, Virginia voters believe that Hyra should be allowed to debate. I agree.
• Top issues, as usual, are health care (30%) and economy/jobs (28%), followed by education (14%) and taxes (13%).
• In the Lt. Governor’s race, it’s Democrat Justin Fairfax up by just one point (36%-35%) over Republican Jill Vogel.
• For Attorney General, it’s Democrat Mark Herring up by just two points (39%-37%) over Republican John Adams.
• By a 57%-32% margin, Virginian “likely voters” believe that Confederate statues should NOT be removed from public spaces.
• By a 52%-35% margin, Virginia “likely voters” support offshore oil/gas drilling.
• By a 50%-44% margin, Virginia “likely voters” support raising the state’s minimum wage to $15/hour.
• By a 50%-40% margin, Virginia “likely voters” oppose allowing undocumented immigrants who are high school graduates to qualify for in-state tuition.
• This poll has 26% of Virginia “likely voters” as “liberal” or “very liberal,” 33% “moderate” and 35% “conservative” or “very conservative.”
• According to this poll, which again seems to be somewhat biased towards Republicans, 28% say their most trusted news source is Fox (!), with 15% saying CNN (ugh).
• 60% of those surveyed say religion is “very important” in their life and 23% “somewhat important,” with only 15% saying it’s either “not very important” or “not at all important.”