From looking at social media, there would seem to be unanimity in how Virginia feels about its governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.
A new Washington Post poll has what you’d think from what you’ve seen not being the case at all.
Virginia is split on the future of Gov. Ralph Northam: 47 percent saying he should step down in the wake of the blackface controversy, and 47 percent saying he should stay on.
Notably, African American voters – who should be the most offended, you’d think – support Northam by a 58 percent-37 percent margin.
So, maybe what we have here is … white guilt, on the part of Democrats, and opportunism, on the part of white Republicans.
Diving inside that opportunism number: Democrats think, by a 57 percent-40 percent margin, that Northam should not step down.
Republicans: 56 percent say he should step down; 42 percent he shouldn’t.
Fun stuff, there.
Attorney General Mark Herring, who volunteered this week, after the revelations about Northam had broken with the publication of a yearbook photo on a conservative blog, that he had also dressed in blackface as a college student, has also faced calls that he resign.
Virginia backs Herring staying on by a wide margin: 60 percent saying he should remain in office, 34 percent saying he should resign.
Finally, then, to Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who this week has been accused of past sexual assaults by two women.
Nearly two-thirds – 65 percent – say they don’t have enough information to weigh in on Fairfax’s response to the allegations.
Story by Chris Graham
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