Poll: Cantor loss reflection of unpopular GOP leadership

A new Public Policy Polling survey conducted in the Seventh District Tuesday night finds that both House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and the GOP House leadership are deeply unpopular in the district, even with Republican voters, and that likely led to his stunning loss in a Republican primary.

Despite much speculation that Cantor’s position on immigration reform might have cost him the election, immigration reform is actually quite popular in his district and voters want to see Congress act on it this year, according to the survey.

Key findings from the survey include:

-Cantor has a only a 30% approval rating in his district, with 63% of voters disapproving. The Republican leadership in the House is even more unpopular, with just 26% of voters approving of it to 67% who disapprove. Among GOP voters Cantor’s approval is a 43/49 spread and the House leadership’s is 41/50. Those approval numbers track pretty closely with Cantor’s share of the vote last night.

-72% of voters in Cantor’s district support the bipartisan immigration reform legislation on the table in Washington right now to only 23% who are opposed. And this is an issue voters want to see action on. 84% think it’s important for the US to fix its immigration system this year, including 57% who say it’s ‘very’ important. Even among Republicans 58% say it’s ‘very’ important, suggesting that some of the backlash against Cantor could be for a lack of action on the issue.

Lindsey Graham, who’s been far more moderate on immigration than Cantor, was easily renominated last night in south carolina. Cantor didn’t lose because of immigration. He lost because of the deep unpopularity of both himself personally and of the Republican House leadership. Even in his conservative district voters still want immigration reform passed, and they want it this year.

PPP surveyed 488 registered voters in VA-7 on June 10th on behalf of Americans United for Change. The survey’s margin of error is +/-4.4%.

FULL RESULTS: http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/page/-/VA7Results61114.pdf