Politics

Democrat Takes Solid Lead In Key Virginia Race

REUTERS/Mike Theiler

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Phillip Stucky Political Reporter
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Democratic candidate Ralph Northam in the Virginia governor race carries a significant lead over Republican Ed Gillespie according to a poll released late Wednesday.

The Democrat earned 47 percent of the vote in the poll compared to Gillespie’s 39 percent support. Forty percent of Independent voters supported the Republican, compared to only 38 percent who supported the Democrat.

The former Republican party chair led with male voters, white voters, and Republicans with substantial leads, according to the Quinnipiac University poll. Northam led with women voters and non-white Voters in the poll.

“Although Northam’s lead is just 47 – 39 percent, other data indicates the difficulty of the job facing Gillespie,” Assistant Poll Director Peter Brown wrote in a statement. “Voters have a mixed view of Gillespie. By a three-two margin, they see Northam favorably. And, voters say they would prefer that the Democrats control the State Legislature.”

Republicans currently control both chambers of the state legislative assembly, and 48 percent of respondents in the poll report they wanted Democrats to take control. Only 41 percent said they liked Republican control of the statehouse.

Gillespie does have the economy going for him. The most important issue to voters in the poll was the state’s economy, and 42 percent of voters think that the Republican would handle the economy better than Northam whose support on the issue was 38 percent. Voters also asserted they felt that the Democrat would be better on education policy and health care.

This is the first poll of the general election. Northam blew progressive candidate Tom Perriello out of the water, and Gillespie edged out pro-Trump firebrand Corey Stewart in their respective primaries two weeks ago.

The poll included 1,145 registered voters from June 15 through June 20. It carried a margin of error of 3.8 percentage points in either direction.

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