“Do I think this prevented a “steal” by McAwful in a close election?”
The difference between between the unwatched presidential election and watched Governor election is important. The Democrats lost 800,000 voters. Sure there is a drop off between the elections but not 800,000 voters. They sent every heavy hitter into the state and spent millions to get out the vote.
This tells me that Virginia was likely a red state all along. They were only blue because of their stealing.
There is always a massive drop off in off year elections. The drop of from 2012 to 2013 was 900K Ds and 800K Rs. From 2016 to 2017 it was 500K Ds and 594K Rs. From 2020 to 2021 it was 813Ks and 300K Rs. The drop off was less from 2020 to 2021 than it was from 2012 to 2013.