Posted on 07/23/2005 8:03:07 PM PDT by Jefferson2000
From the article: >>>Virginia’s gubernatorial race appears to be a squeaker, with Democrat Tim Kaine holding a slight edge over Republican Jerry Kilgore, according to a Mason-Dixon poll.
With the election less than four months away, the poll found Kaine with 38 percent of likely voters and Kilgore with 37 percent. Last September Kaine, the lieutenant governor, trailed Kilgore, a Scott County native and former attorney general, by 5 percentage points.
"It does confirm a couple of things we’ve been seeing and we’ve been saying: The more people get to know Tim Kaine and his role in budget reform and the success of the Warner-Kaine administration, the better we do," said Kaine communications director Mo Elleithee.
Nine percent of likely voters polled said they would vote for Russell Potts, a Republican state senator who is waging an independent run for the governor’s mansion. Sixteen percent said they are undecided.
According to the poll, voters who describe themselves as independents are always the swing vote in Virginia elections. The swing voters polled said they support Kaine over Kilgore by 37 percent to 28 percent, respectively. Kaine’s margin in this category is the result of Potts garnering 14 percent of independent voters, the poll analysis states.
Warner, the popular governor who is mulling a bid for the presidency, received high marks from those polled. Statewide, 74 percent of Virginia voters rated Warner’s performance as excellent or good. That number is up from 58 percent, the survey found.
Warner’s job performance rating is the highest Mason-Dixon has measured among the last six Virginia governors. The poll found that Warner’s popularity likely will be advantageous for Kaine.
Seventy-three percent of voters said Virginia is "on the right track," while 56 percent said they are "generally satisfied" with the state’s leadership. Warner’s tax reform plan, a controversial proposal that raised some taxes in the commonwealth and was opposed by Kilgore, had the approval of 57 percent of the voters, according to the poll. The satisfied voters back Kaine over Kilgore, the poll states.
"Of bigger concern to Kilgore is the fact that he trails Kaine despite holding an 11-point name recognition advantage," said J. Bradford Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. "Kilgore is recognized by 92 percent of Virginia voters, while Kaine is known by just 81 percent."<<<
What exactly is it that makes Warner popular?
>>What exactly is it that makes Warner popular?<<
Honestly? They think he did a good job, getting rid of the $6 billion deficit. They seem to not care that he did it by raising taxes (57% support that tax increase).
I can't figure it out either. Virginia seems to increasingly resemble its northern neighbor (Maryland) with every passing election.
I also recently saw a poll (Rasmussen, I believe) which showed Mark Warner beating George Allen in 2006 for the Senate. I suspect that Mark Warner is likely to stay on the sidelines in 2006, and run for an open seat when John Warner (R) probably retires in 2008.
Anyone buying this one? Can't say that I am. :-)
It's my understanding Warner is responsible for Nextel, a founder of the company or something like that. I hate those "walkie talkie" cell phones. I'd never vote for someone responsible for those obnoxious things.
Warner was able to get public support for the tax increase, because Gilmore did the worst PR job possible as governor. Don't get me wrong, I like Gilmore and while he is a true conservative, he is at best a mediocre politician. Warner was able to get the RINOs to go along with the tax increase because he also cut spending.
I'm always in favor of tax increases---as long as they are in Virginia or some state other than mine!
From what I've seen about other states, we still have very low taxes in Virginia.
Sorry if i dont trust it even if it is m-d
He did? Then why did we soundly reject the tax increase referendum? He did NOT have public support. He had political support.
You are absolutely right, it was typo on my part. He was able to manipulate Ken Stolle and some others into showing their true colors.
Yep, that is how my Mama feels and she is a Republican!!!!! :(
>>I can't figure it out either. Virginia seems to increasingly resemble its northern neighbor (Maryland) with every passing election. <<
Its true, unfortunately. It hasn't voted for a dem for POTUS since 1964, but Clinton only lost it by about 1% in 1996 and it was one of the closest southern states in 2004. Maybe it is partly from MD and partly from DC (votes dem 9-1)
>>I also recently saw a poll (Rasmussen, I believe) which showed Mark Warner beating George Allen in 2006 for the Senate. I suspect that Mark Warner is likely to stay on the sidelines in 2006, and run for an open seat when John Warner (R) probably retires in 2008.<<
No, that poll showed Mark Warner beating Allen for president in the state of VA in 2008 (46-41) and close in the senate race. He wont challenge Allen and he wont run for Warner's seat most likely. He wont want to ruin his presidential chances by becoming a senator.
Rasmussen has us up 6 and SUSA has us up 10 so wait and see if outlier or trend
However, IIRC, polls from a few years ago showed that the elimination of the car tax was not nearly as important to a lot of people as Gilmore thought it was.
Yep. That is the reason all of the Northeastern Yankees are moving down to my neck of the woods. LOL!
Hell, they're moving here in droves. The value of real estate here has doubled in three years, and it's not because of some imaginary "bubble", it's because there are not enough homes for the Yankees to buy.
The car tax got him elected, without a doubt. And it remained quite popular until 2001. As the economy slowed and then 9/11 took its toll, the car tax lost its popularity to an extent because it was blamed for the state budget cuts.
The car tax didn't get Gilmore elected, George Allen did.
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