McAuliffe opens up double-digit lead over Cuccinelli in Virginia governor’s race

[cali]

Democrat Terry McAuliffe has opened a double-digit lead over Republican Ken Cuccinelli II in the race for Virginia governor, in a new poll capturing increasing dissatisfaction among voters with Cuccinelli’s party and his conservative views.

According to a new Washington Post/Abt SRBI poll, McAuliffe tops Cuccinelli 51 percent to 39 percent among likely voters in the Nov. 5 election. McAuliffe led by eight percentage points in a poll taken last month. Libertarian Robert Sarvis, who has capitalized on voter unrest with the two major-party candidates, is at 8 percent, according to the new poll.

The margin between the two major-party candidates is driven by a huge gender gap. Among men, the two candidates are running even, with Cuccinelli at 45 percent and McAuliffe at 44 percent. But among women, Cuccinelli trails by 24 points — 58 percent to 34 percent.

McAuliffe’s substantial lead puts him in a position to break a long pattern in Virginia gubernatorial races. In the nine most recent elections, the party holding the White House has lost the governor’s race. Cuccinelli’s weaknesses, more than McAuliffe’s strengths, put that streak in jeopardy, according to one question in the poll.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/mcauliffe-opens-up-double-digit-lead-over-cuccinelli-in-virginia-governors-race/2013/10/28/e81e2fb0-3c43-11e3-b6a9-da62c264f40e_story.html

[alarimer]

1. Somehow I don't think the teabaggers are going to learn from this loss.

Although, a ham sandwich could probably beat Cuccinelli, I still feel that the right will learn nothing from this.

They will instead double-down on the hateful rhetoric and the war on women. And lose, hopefully, rendering the GOP even more irrelevant.

[FSogol]

4. I agree. The tea baggers will double down, thinking that Cuccinelli wasn't extreme enough.

I imagine that the GOP will return to having a primary rather than allowing their extremists to anoint the their party wingnuts as the candidates for office.

[LuvNewcastle]

2. I think it's scary that if the Libertarian wasn't running,

McAuliffe would only be ahead by a few points. Coochy is fucking crazy as hell. He ought to be polling at 20 or 30%.

[FSogol]

3. Actually a poll I saw here on DU showed that the libertarian* was taking votes away from

McAuliffe. Cuccinelli's anti-oral sex and anti-birth control campaign worried a lot of people.

*Robert Sarvis is more than an opportunist than a libertarian. In the past he ran as a republican in my neighboring district only to be trounced by popular Democrat Dick Saslaw.

[LuvNewcastle]

5. Huh. I didn't expect that.

I shouldn't be surprised. We have a lot of voters in this country who don't even know why they're voting for the person they've chosen. I guess they just pick who they think looks the best or speaks the best. I don't even want to think about that too much.

[LonePirate]

6. That gender gap makes me wonder why men are attracted to C's brand of crazy.

Why isn't he trailing by 20+ points among men?

[FSogol]

7. In the rural areas on VA, they'd vote for John Wayne Gacy if he was on the Repub ticket.

[LonePirate]

8. Then why isn't he leading among women if it is a regional leaning?

Either women in rural and southern Virginia are immune to C's brand of crazy or the men in NoVa are just as idiotic as their brethren downstate.

[11 Bravo]

9. This is great news, but we are still sweating the Attorney General race here.

Herring has a small lead, but it's currently within the margin of error. Obenshain is every bit as dangerous and batshit ideologically crazy as the Cooch. He would be a nightmare for my state!