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The Wason Center at Christopher Newport University released a new poll Wednesday morning showing a one-point lead (49% to 48%) for Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Terry McAuliffe, over his Republican opponent Glenn Youngkin. One percent of voters said they supported the third party candidate Princess Blanding and one percent of voters were undecided.
These latest numbers from the Wason Center coincide with several other polls showing the same results. It also represents a tightening in the race within Wason as they reported a nine-point lead for McAuliffe in August and a four-point lead at the beginning of this month.
“McAuliffe is facing strong headwinds in a state that has historically selected
governors from the party not in the White House and with a Democratic president
whose approval rating is underwater,” said Wason Center Research Director Dr.
Rebecca Bromley-Trujillo. “Republican voters also appear hungrier for a win and
increasingly see a chance to take a statewide race for the first time since 2009.”
Independent voters in this new poll broke for Youngkin 51% to 44%. Youngkin’s support within the Republican Party has also increased significantly to 97% compared to the last Wason Center poll showing 90%.
Youngkin’s support is currently driven by white voters (58% to 39%), male voters
(56% to 42%) and those from the South/Southwest region (65% to 33%).
In the race for lieutenant governor, Democratic nominee Hala Ayala had a one-point lead over her Republican opponent Winsome Sears according to the results in this poll.
Two-term Attorney General Mark Herring also holds a slim one-point lead over his Republican opponent Jason Miyares. Herring lead Miyares by six points in Wason Center’s early October poll.
The results of this poll are based on 944 interviews of registered Virginia voters who are likely general election voters, including 446 on a landline and 498 on a cell phone, conducted October 17-25. A likely general election voter is one who has voted in at least two of the last four general elections or is newly registered in the last 12 months and indicates they are enthusiastic and plan to vote (or already have) in the upcoming November 2 election. The margin of error for the whole survey is +/-3.5% at the 95% level of confidence.
Election day is less than one week away on Nov. 2.
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