Youngkin at 50 percent job approval: Voters split on direction of state

Gov. Glenn Youngkin is Even Steven with Virginia voters, according to a new Roanoke College poll that registers his job approval rating at 50 percent.

Forty-one percent don’t approve, and a lot of that could have to do with his executive order on masks in schools, which 52 percent of Virginians disagree with.

Fifty-six percent said school districts should set mask requirements for themselves as opposed to 37 percent saying Gov. Youngkin and the state government should set mask requirements for local school districts.

Preference for local school districts setting mandates was among the lowest partisan divide in the poll, with 45 percent of Republicans and 61 percent of Democrats preferring school district choice.

And even with the governor getting an overall positive approval rating, voters are split on whether the state is moving in the right direction – with 47 percent saying yes, 47 percent saying no.

“There is some worry among Virginians about the direction of the Commonwealth, as fewer residents feel that our state is heading in the right direction,” said Dr. David Taylor, director of the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research at Roanoke College. “While Youngkin maintains a 50 percent job approval rating and 51 percent approval of his pandemic handling, a slight majority disapproves of his executive actions that removed mask mandates in schools. By an almost 20-point margin, Virginians believe the authority to set mask mandates should be left with the school districts themselves and not with the governor’s office or state. In most cases, opinions of Virginians are more extreme when combined with a respondent’s political party, but even almost a majority of Republicans favor local school districts setting policy.”

President Joe Biden, who won Virginia in the 2020 presidential election by a 10.1-point margin, is significantly underwater in the Commonwealth in terms of job approval, with 41 percent approving of the job that he’s doing, and 53 percent disapproving.

Former President Donald Trump is even more underwater, with 37 percent expressing a favorable view of Trump, and 56 percent expressing an unfavorable view.

Story by Chris Graham