Scott’s poll of 500 likely voters finds Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican George Allen “virtually dead even” in the race for the Senate seat being vacated by Democratic incumbent Jim Webb. Seven percent are undecided and 3 percent “like some other candidate.”
Just how close are the two men in this poll?
Forty-seven percent (47%) have a favorable opinion of each of them. That includes 21% with a Very Favorable opinion of Kaine and 20% with a Very Favorable view of Allen.
Forty percent (40%) have an unfavorable opinion of Kaine who stepped down as chairman of the Democratic National Committee earlier this year, including 18% who see him Very Unfavorably. Allen is viewed unfavorably by 39%, with 23% who share a Very Unfavorable regard for him. Fourteen percent (14%) of the state’s voters have no opinion of either man.
Those are the kids of numbers you would expect to see for two well-known quantities in Virginia politics. And another item we’ll see and hear a great deal more about in the months ahead is the economy. The bottom line? It’s gloomy out there:
Just four percent (4%) of all Virginia voters now rate the economy as good or excellent, while 59% view it as poor. Only 15% say the economy is getting better. Fifty-six percent (56%) think the economy is getting worse, while 24% say it’s staying about the same.
Thirty-eight percent (38%) of voters in the state say their own finances are good or excellent. Fourteen percent (14%) regard their personal finances as poor.
Even many of those who think they are doing fine are down on the economy as a whole. Call it a lack of animal spirits or, if you’re the President, America getting “soft,” but so long as the perception is that things are bad and may get worse, the politician who puts forward the most plausible solution for righting the economic ship could do quite well next November.
I also suggest that, with all this gloom, there’s a real opening for a candidate who embraces Reagan-like optimism. Or for that matter, FDR’s. America faces very real and growing problems. But candidates who insist on preaching doom or worse, have the aura of doom and its uglier sister, gloom, about them, won’t get very far.
