The newest Virginia poll from Public Policy Polling finds that Gov. Bob McDonnell’s net approval rating has dropped 12 points in the last month.
Only 36 percent of voters approve of the job he’s doing, to 41 percent who disapprove. The drop is being seen across the board. McDonnell’s approval dropped from 73 percent to 62 percent among Republicans, with his showing among Democrats (22 percent approval down to 14 percent) and independents (39 percent approval to 36 percent) also taking a hit.
McDonnell’s favorability numbers are even worse than his approval numbers, with just 32 percent of voters seeing him in a positive light to 45 percent who have a negative opinion.
McDonnell’s ethics issues seem to be driving this downturn in his popularity. Only 31 percent of voters in the state consider him to be an ethical politician, compared to 45 percent who do not. McDonnell’s issues could be a liability for the Republican ticket this fall as 31 percent of voters say they’d be less likely to vote for a candidate backed by him to only 15 percent that say they’d be more likely to support someone based on his blessing. Among independent voters it’s 29 percent less likely and 13 percent more likely.
There is one piece of good news for McDonnell in the poll though- only 35 percent of voters think he should resign at this point to 45 percent who believe he should remain in office.
The reason for the divide between that and his approval numbers is that only 62 percent of voters who disapprove of him are so unhappy that they think he should resign. Fifty-six percent of Democrats think he should step down, but 74 percent of Republicans think he should stay on and independents by a 44/34 margin think he should continue in office as well.
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