Poll: Virginia voters not thinking 2017 state elections just yet

Most of you seem to have no idea that there are state elections in Virginia in 2017, much less have an opinion on who should win.

We can glean this from a new Roanoke College poll, which has the two perceived frontrunners for the major party nominations barely registering with the voters.

Eighty-four percent don’t know enough about Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, to have an opinion, and the same is true of 70 percent in regard to Ed Gillespie, a Republican.

Gillespie led the Republican nomination contenders in the Roanoke College poll, as he has in other recent polling, at 24 percent, to 8 percent for Frank Wagner, 4 percent for Corey Stewart and 1 percent for Denver Riggleman.

Northam, until earlier this month assumed to be the only candidate for the Democratic nomination, is tied with surprise challenger Tom Perriello, at 12 percent each.

Lots of folks on both sides are still undecided.

Looking at hypothetical November races involving the contenders:

• Northam holds leads over Gillespie (32%-29%, within the margin of error), Stewart (35%-24%) and Wagner (35%-25%)
• Perriello holds similar leads over Gillespie (33%-30%), Stewart (32%-26%) and Wagner (32%-27%)

 

Methodology

Interviewing for The Roanoke College Poll was conducted by The Institute for Policy and Opinion Research at Roanoke College in Salem, Va. between January 15 and January 20, 2017. Interviewing for this poll was extended due to weather. A total of 606 Virginia residents 18 or older were interviewed. Telephone interviews were conducted in English. The random digit dial sample was obtained from ASDE Survey Sampler and included both Virginia land line and cell phone exchanges so that all cell phone and residential land line telephone numbers, including unlisted numbers from Virginia exchanges, had a known chance of inclusion. Cell phones constituted 43 percent of the completed interviews.

Questions answered by the entire sample of 606 residents are subject to a sampling error of plus or minus approximately 4 percent at the 95 percent level of confidence.