With Virginia's gubernatorial election just over a month away, there's been no shortage of polls predicting the results. Furthermore, the Virginia Governor's race could serve as a foreshadowing of the 2022 midterm elections. This week, a new poll shows how a sampling of Virginia voters plan to cast their vote on November 2 and their approval of President Biden.
A Roanoke College poll published Wednesday asked respondents their opinions pertaining to the Virginia Governor's race, Biden's overall job approval rating, and Biden's handling of Afghanistan.
Former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe maintains a seven-percentage point lead over his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, at 48 percent and 41 percent, respectively. Nine percent of respondents in the poll are undecided in the race for Virginia governor. However, Republicans hold an advantage in being more enthusiastic about voting than Democrats. Forty-three percent of Republicans feel enthusiastic about voting, whereas only 35 percent of Democrats feel enthusiastic about voting. Ninety-one percent of Republicans said they are "almost certain to vote," and 88 percent of Democrats said the same.
As for current Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D), his approval rating sits at 55 percent. Forty percent disapprove of his performance. Fifty-two percent of respondents think Virginia is headed in the right direction, while 43 percent think the state is on the wrong track.
Exactly half of respondents, 50 percent, said they approve of the way Biden is handling his job. Forty-five percent of respondents disapproved. The poll write-up notes, "Biden's approval rating has remained relatively stable, but disapproval has been rising in each Roanoke College Poll since he took office." Barely over one-third of respondents, 35 percent, think the country is headed in the right direction, while over half, 58 percent, think the country is on the wrong track.
Regarding Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, 59 percent of likely voters did approve of the decision to withdraw troops, but 66 percent of likely voters think the United States failed at achieving its goals in Afghanistan. A massive 73 percent of respondents rate the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan as "fair" or "poor," and nearly all respondents, 90 percent, see the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan as a security threat to the United States.
According to the poll write-up, The Roanoke College Poll was conducted by The Institute for Policy and Opinion Research at Roanoke College in Salem, Virginia, between September 12 and September 26, 2021. A total of 603 voters likely to vote in the gubernatorial election in Virginia were surveyed. The margin of error by the entire sample is +/- 4 percentage points at the 95 percent level of confidence.