Posted on 10/24/2005 1:53:22 PM PDT by RWR8189
October 24, 2005--The race to succeed Mark Warner as Governor of Virginia remains too close to call.
Republican Jerry Kilgore attracts 48% of the statewide vote while Democrat Tim Kaine earns 46%. Independent candidate Russell Potts is poised to earn just 2% of the vote. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.
In the previous Rasmussen Reports election poll, Kilgore also had a two percentage point advantage, 46% to 44%. In late September, the two leading candidates were tied at 45%.
This is the second 2005 Virginia election poll with "leaners" included in the totals. Leaners are those who initially do not express a preference for either major party candidate but lean one way or the other when asked a follow-up question.
Without leaners, Jerry Kilgore still has a two-point edge, 44% to 42%, over Tim Kaine. Without leaners, Potts is at 4%.
Seventy percent (70%) of the state's conservative voters support Kilgore. Seventy-five percent (75%) of liberal voters support Kaine.
Overall, Kilgore is viewed favorably by 54% of Virginia voters and unfavorably by 37%. For Kaine, the numbers are 57% favorable and 34% unfavorable. These numbers highlight a huge difference between the Virginia election and this year's contest in New Jersey. In the New Jersey race, neither candidate is viewed favorably by more than 41% of voters.
The economy ranks as the number one issue for 24% of Virginia voters. Twelve percent (12%) say health care is most important and another 12% say education. Eleven percent (11%) name taxes and 10% say Immigration.
Seventy-two percent (72%) of Virginia voters Approve of the way that Warner is performing his duties as Governor. Although the state typically leans Republican in national elections, just 48% of Virginia voters Approve of the way President Bush is performing his job.
Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.
Rasmussen Reports was the nation's most accurate polling firm during the Presidential election and the only one to project both Bush and Kerry's vote total within half a percentage point of the actual outcome.
During Election 2004, RasmussenReports.com was also the top-ranked public opinion research site on the web. We had twice as many visitors as our nearest competitor and nearly as many as all competitors combined.
Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade.
Jerry Kilgore will do a fantastic job as Governor of Virginia. He is George Allen II.
When's the electiion?
November 8 IIRC
I'd have to disagree with the 2nd part of your assessment.
He should do a good job as governor, though. He has run a bad campaign -- looking more like a candidate who is avoiding losing, than one which wants to win. It will probably work, but it isn't easy to campaign for him.
I think Kilgore would be over 50% now if not for the problems of the Bush administration, including the significant flap from the conservative base. Most of us though are focused on local issues now, trying to avoid a democrat gain in house seats. The democrats sent a LOT of money into some races that don't get money.
For example, my republican delegate doesn't do fundraising, he has a set of people who give him noney each year. He has been outraised 2-1 by his opponent, who is a firefighter with no legislative or political experience. He was hand-picked for the job, and his campaign seems to be run by the virginia state democrat party.
Just as in the national elections, I've got "real" conservatives talking about voting for the democrat because Kilgore isn't sufficiently conservative. They expect that a republican legislature will have an easier time standing up to a democrat governor than a republican governor.
I hate rabid idealists.
George Allen, speaking on the Sean Hannity radio show, just said Jerry Kilgore "shares his principles" and that he will do a good job as Governor. Kilgore was part of Allen's administration. AND, Kilgore is the only candidate for governor who will crack down on the illegal immigration problem that has gotten so serious in Virginia.
I agree with all that. I guess I was thinking in a larger sense, Kilgore is no Allen. He doesn't have the way with words, the sense of what to say and when, that Allen has.
ping
You temper tots in Virginia are screwing up! The GOP guy is 2 points in the lead. What's up with that?!! If he wins, the rest of us will LAUGH at your powers (and threats) to punish everyone in 06 and 08. Stop posting and get out there and help the RAT win! Bush and the GOP must be disciplined.
It will be a sad holiday season for the Democrats if they lose the governorships of New Jersey and Virginia and Patrick Fitzgerald does not indict any high level Bush Administration officials.
Pity he has an anti-gun record and isn't willing to talk about it. That's not a good sign.
Indeed, it's a textbook lousy choice: a Republican who's opposed to gun rights, versus a Democrat who talks a good game on that, but is wrong on every other issue.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
Good news, especially since Kilgore is running on all the right issues for conservatives.
~sigh~
Just ask 'em how they're liking the largest tax increase in Virginia history brought by the current democrat governor that the GOP stood up to...
I think Jerry Kilgore would be the first to tell you that. Few politicians have the way with words that George Allen has. But substantively, Kilgore is solid.
It's also pure fantasy. Kilgore is a strong 2nd Amendment candidate and the only one in this race.
Sadly, the odds are against us on all three.
I don't know what you've been reading, but the odds are NOT against us on the Virginia governor race.
Yes, the race has tightened as we always knew it would. But things are trending our way. We are ahead in endorsements, money and momentum.
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