On Thursday, SurveyUSA released its most recent poll of the 5th District race showing state Sen. Robert Hurt increasing his lead over Rep. Tom Perriello. Yesterday, SurveyUSA followed up with a new poll of the 9th District race, which also showed the Republican candidate gaining ground on an incumbent Democrat. Since SurveyUSA’s last poll of the 9th was conducted six weeks ago, Del. Morgan Griffith has gained three percentage points, but still trails Rep. Rick Boucher by ten points. Although he does not lead the race, Griffith must be pleased that he is holding a generally popular, 28-year incumbent to just 50 percentage points, perhaps Rep. Boucher’s worst polling position since taking his seat in Congress. Del. Griffith also appears to have momentum, gaining three percentage points—all at Rep. Boucher’s expense.
The most troubling aspect of this poll (for Griffith) is that he is losing 25 percent of self-described Republicans to Boucher. Rep. Boucher is widely perceived as a moderate, especially after his vote against Obamacare, but in spite of his role in drafting Cap-and-Trade legislation that would devastate the coal industry. Rep. Boucher’s television ads remind voters that, since he is from the “Fighting 9th,” he understands the values of the district’s residents and is best positioned to represent those values in Washington. Ironically, then, despite the fact that the Obama-Biden ticket was trounced in the 9th in 2008, Rep. Boucher has voted for the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda just over 96 percent of the time. As 9th District Republicans are reminded of Rep. Boucher’s penchant for saying one thing in Washington County and doing another in Washington, D.C., Del. Griffith could very easily see his numbers continue to rise.
