Poll: Perriello, Northam tied, both lead GOP contenders for governor

Tom Perriello and Ralph Northam are tied in the race for the Democratic Party nomination for governor.

This from a poll out on Thursday from Quinnipiac University, which also has both Perriello and Northam leading all four possible Republican Party challengers.

First, to the Democratic nomination. Perriello, a former U.S. congressman, and Northam, the sitting Virginia lieutenant governor, are both at 19 percent among likely Democratic Party primary voters, leaving lots of wiggle room among the 62 percent who are undecided.

On the GOP side, former Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie has 24 percent, with Prince William County Board of Supervisors chair Corey Stewart at 7 percent, State Sen. Frank Wagner at 5 percent and Nelson County businessman Denver Riggleman at 2 percent.

That still leaves 62 percent of the Republican electorate undecided with more than three months to go until the June primary.

Looking further out, to potential November matchups:

• Perriello leads Gillespie 43 – 36 percent
• Perriello tops Stewart 44 – 31 percent
• Perriello leads Riggelman 43 – 30 percent
• Perriello beats Wagner 43 – 32 percent
• Northam tops Gillespie 41 – 35 percent
• Northam leads Stewart 42 – 31 percent
• Northam tops Riggelman 42 – 31 percent
• Northam over Wagner 41 – 33 percent

“Although none of the candidates – Democrat or Republican – is very well known to the Virginia electorate, the Old Dominion obviously has a blue tinge at this point,” said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. “The fact that relatively unknown Democrats are scoring better than relatively unknown Republicans indicates that for now at least this Democratic brand is more attractive to Virginia voters.”