Virginia Politics: Warner still has sizable lead

Story by Chris Graham
[email protected]

Republicans have been whispering that the Senate race between Jim Gilmore and Mark Warner has been tightening up, but a new poll from Public Policy Polling has it right where it has been for months.

Warner had a 57 percent-to-33 percent lead in the latest PPP poll released this morning.

That same poll was the second released this week that has Barack Obama ahead of John McCain in Virginia in the presidential race. According to the PPP data, Obama has a 48 percent-to-46 percent lead over McCain in Virginia.

PPP reported that Virginia is the only battleground state surveyed since the party conventions where Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden gets better overall reviews than GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin. According to PPP, 38 percent of Virginians say that they are more likely to vote for Obama with Biden on the ticket, with 27 percent saying that they are less likely to. Palin’s numbers are 42 percent and 40 percent, respectively.