Roanoke College Poll Finds Spanberger Leads Earle-Sears by 17 Pts (43%-26%); Youngkin Underwater at 44%-50% – “his worst showing”; Trump’s 65% Disapproval Rating “the worst it has been”

It’s been a while since we’ve gotten a public poll on the Virginia governor’s race, so it’s good to see a new poll by Roanoke College (not my favorite poll, but we’ll take what we can get at this point!) out this morning (and no, I’m not taking the pro-Republican, pro-polluter, anti-Democratic “Virginia FREE” “poll” seriously…and HarrisX is “a methodologically flawed poll that often promotes a right-wing political agenda,” per the Harvard Crimson):

• “In a still-early look at the likely November gubernatorial matchup, Democrat Abigail Spanberger leads Republican Winsome Earle-Sears by 43%-26%”
• “For the first time in eight years of polling, a majority (51%) thinks things in Virginia have gotten off on the wrong track, while two-thirds (66%) say the same about the country.”
• “President Donald Trump’s job disapproval rating (65%) is the worst it has been, including during his first term, while his 31% approval rating is low, but not his worst.”
• “Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s job approval rating (46%) is his lowest and down seven points from November.”
• “Youngkin’s unfavorable rating (44% favorable/50% unfavorable) is also his worst showing, while Trump’s is close to his most negative (33% favorable/64% unfavorable).”
• “Spanberger’s rating (41% favorable/40% unfavorable) is similar to November, while Earle-Sears’ numbers have fallen in that time (32% favorable/48% unfavorable), with about one-fifth of respondents not offering an opinion.”
• “Mark Warner, whose U.S. Senate seat is up for election in 2026, comes in at 51% favorable, about where he stood five years ago.”
• “While the Democratic Party is not seen in a positive light (51% unfavorable), the Republican Party fares even worse (63% unfavorable).”
• “The overall [political anxiety] index of 89.41 is up 13 points since November 2024. While that increase is minimal, it masks significant changes within political parties. Democrats jumped from -10.39 in May 2024 to 101.77 in November 2024, and their current anxiety index stands at 153.35. During the same period, Republicans dropped from 166.59 (May) to 13.52 (November), and are now at -30.10. Political anxiety is closely tied to party control of the White House and Congress.”

P.S. So…we waited weeks and we finally got some polling today on the VA governor’s race, but one of them (Roanoke College) is pretty low-quality, and the other (HarrisX) is right-wing. And still no poll for the LG/AG Dem primaries. UGH