Okay, I know it’s early. The 2017 gubernatorial campaign is an eternity away. But with both Republican Ed Gillespie and Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, as their party’s only declared candidates, this recent University of Mary Washington poll is certainly an interesting test of name identification.
In “Virginia Survey 2015”, the poll shows Gillespie up 12 points (44-32) among likely voters in this survey of 1,006 Virginians. Of course, it also says that 78 percent of respondents for Gillespie and 83 percent of respondents for Northam haven’t heard enough about them to have a favorable or unfavorable rating of them. That has to be particularly discouraging for Northam, considering he’s currently holding statewide elected office as the governor’s #2.
That said, another interesting nugget is Gov. McAuliffe’s favorability trend. In a word: underwater. No matter whether we’re talking total, registered, or likely voters, McAuliffe is under 50 percent. And his attorney general, Mark Herring, is worse with an overall approval of 35 percent – six points below former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in his last year in office.
See more fun results here.
