Griffith Cuts Boucher’s Lead in the 9th
By Jason Johnson | Saturday, September 4th, 2010 | PoliticsOn 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.
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About the author
A lifelong political junkie, Jason caught the political bug as a fifth grader after meeting George Allen in 1993. Since then he has studied political science at both the undergraduate and graduate level. When not perusing the blogs or volunteering for conservative Republicans, Jason enjoys cheering on his beloved Virginia Tech Hokies and spending time at his Bedford County home.
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4 Responses to "Griffith Cuts Boucher’s Lead in the 9th"
Morgan Griffith’s biggest obstacle is Kenny Golden.
No Pollster More Accurate than SurveyUSA in 2009 VA Governor Contest
12 pollsters competed in the 11/03/09 Virginia Governor’s contest. No pollster was more accurate than SurveyUSA. Credit to SurveyUSA’s media partners, WJLA-TV in Washington DC and WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, who paid for these surveys and distinguished themselves with excellent election coverage.
http://www.surveyusa.com/index.php/2009/11/04/no-pollster-more-accurate-than-surveyusa-in-va-governor-contest/
[...] this month Bearing Drift reported that a SurveyUSA Poll showed Boucher leading Delegate Morgan Griffith by a 10 pt. [...]
I think the 25% of Republicans who are still voting for Boucher need to sit back and look at the problems we’re having in Washington and realize that Rick, although a nice guy, has for 28 years become a part of the problem and not the solution. Voting against health care didn’t stop it the Democratic Party from shoving it down our throats and his vote on cap and tax is like taking the food of the plates of his coal mining constituents. Let’s face the facts, Ric votes with his party 96+% of them time. If we re-elect him to office we become part of the problem instead of part of the solution. SWVA does not support Obama 96% of the time but Rick does.
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