It’s looking like it’s going to be a short Election Night.
“At this point it’s pretty hard to see Creigh Deeds pulling it out,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, which released a Virginia state election poll on Tuesday that has all three Republican statewide candidates up and up big over their Democratic challengers, including having Bob McDonnell ahead of Creigh Deeds at the top of the ticket by a 55 percent-to-40 percent margin.
“The numbers have been moving consistently in Bob McDonnell’s direction over the last month. There would have to be some sort of ‘October Surprise’ to change the course of the race,” Debnam said.
It could even be that McDonnell is an October Surprise up on Deeds at this stage. The Republican is comfortably ahead despite the PPP poll indicating that 52 percent of voters disagree with the thrust of the controversial Bob McDonnell grad-school thesis attacking working women and gays and lesbians and public education, among others.
Even in spite of that, it is Deeds who is viewed unfavorably by voters. Deeds is seen as unfavorable by 49 percent of voters, and 59 percent of voters think he has run a mostly negative campaign.
Downticket, the poll has Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling leading Democrat Jody Wagner by a 50 percent-to-38 percent margin, and GOP attorney-general candidate Ken Cuccinelli ahead of Democrat Steve Shannon by a 52 percent-to-36 percent gap.
– Story by Chris Graham
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