Experts say the tight race could be a sign that Biden’s declining popularity is having a trickle-down effect on the Democratic Party. The Washington Post-Schar School poll showed the president’s job approval ratings underwater in Virginia at 46%. And the Monmouth University poll found Biden’s job approval rating at 43% among Virginians.
The numbers echo the overall national decline in Biden’s job approval ratings and follow a rough summer and fall when Biden grappled with a spike in Covid cases, fallout from the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan and a messy fight to reach a deal with his own party on his legislative agenda.
A narrow win for either candidate could indicate that Biden’s declining popularity and Democratic infighting has stymied voter enthusiasm about the party overall.
For example, the Monmouth University poll found that Youngkin’s supporters are more excited than McAuliffe’s to vote in the upcoming election by nearly 23 percentage points.
“The promise of the Biden presidency—knowledge, competence, and stability in tough times—have all been called into question,” Democratic pollster Jeff Horwitt of Hart Research Associates told NBC News.
On Tuesday, the president dismissed any connection between between his job approval ratings and the results of Virginia’s governor’s race.
“I don’t believe and I’ve not seen any evidence that whether or not I am doing well or poorly, whether or not I’ve got my agenda passed or not, is going to have any real impact on winning or losing,” Biden said at the COP26 press conference in Glasgow, U.K.
Biden added that he believes Democrats will prevail in Virginia and New Jersey, where Gov. Phil Murphy is also on the ballot.
“We’re going win,” the president said at the press conference. “I think we’re gonna win in Virginia. We all knew from the beginning, this will be a tight race and it is.”
“I think we are going to win New Jersey as well,” he continued. “I hope that every eligible voter in Virginia in New Jersey shows up and votes.”
Regardless of which candidate wins, a close outcome in Virginia could also signal that Democrats can’t count on playing the Trump card.
Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/02/virginia-governor-election-democrats-face-tough-road-win-or-lose.html