RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia voters approve of the work its current Democratic senators, and President Donald Trump gets a negative job approval rating, according to a recent Quinnipiac poll.
The poll was conducted over five days and surveyed 989 Virginia voters.
The Virginia’s governor race is held in off-Presidential election years, and Sen. Tim Kaine is up for reelection in 2018. The poll’s findings indicate an early, positive trend for Democratic candidates, in the only Southern state that went to Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Kaine polled well against Republican talk show host Laura Ingraham and businesswoman Carly Fiorina, by at least 22 percentage points in either race.
In both matchups, Kaine leads among women and men, white voters and non-white voters – though his lead with white voters is slim.
“There is a certain similarity to how Virginia voters see Republican officials and potential GOP candidates these days,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
“Both the Trump job approval and the Senate race numbers show the Democratic situation roughly 20 points better off than the GOP.”
Virginia voters approve 57 – 37 percent of the job Kaine is doing as a U.S. Senator and approve of fellow Democratic Sen. Mark Warner 58 – 26 percent.
More voters felt they didn’t know enough about Ingraham to form an opinion of her, and 31 percent said that about Fiorina.
President Trump’s approval ratings
A total of 38 percent of Virginia voters approve of how President Donald Trump is handling is job, and 56 percent disapprove. Six percent don’t know or aren’t sure. The number is skewed by the sharp divide among parties.
Among Republicans, Trump earns a 81 percent approval rating, with 11 percent disapproving. Democrats disapprove with a strong 95 percent and independent voters disapprove by 57 percent.
Among men, 52 percent disapprove of his performance and 41 approve. Among women, 60 percent disapprove and 35 percent approve.
Among non-white voters, 76 percent disapprove and 20 percent approve.White voters are divided as 46 percent approve and 48 percent disapprove.
White voters are divided as 46 percent approve and 48 percent disapprove.
Among white college-educated voters, 35 percent approve of Trump’s early performance and 58 percent don’t.
A majority of Virginia voters disapprove (55 – 42 percent) of President Trump’s order banning people from seven countries from entering the nation.
“But it would be foolish to see these numbers at this very early point in the Trump administration as anything but a bad start that may or may not remain the case in the months/years to come,” Brown said.
Other Virginia voter issues
A majority of voters (49 – 31 percent) support the confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A majority of Virginia voters also believe (71 – 23 percent) that home-schooled students should be allowed to play on public school sports teams. Support is strong among every party, gender, education, age and racial group measured.
Other polls
Nationwide polls released Thursday had wildly different conclusions of Trump’s approval rating. Rasmussen polls gave Trump a 55 percent approval rating and Pew Research Center had him at 39 percent — a 16 point difference. Rasmussen is considered an outlier, according to The Hill, as they typically more positive for Republicans. Gallup polling also found a low rating, with just 41 percent approving of Trump’s early job performance.
