Virginia Politician Approvals

A day after Quinnipiac found Barack Obama's approval rating in Ohio at 49%, we find it at 48% in Virginia.

The caveat here is that we are measuring his numbers among likely general election voters for this year- in the context of the race for Governor- rather than all registered voters or likely voters for a Presidential election. Turnout from key groups that support Obama like African Americans and voters under 30 seem likely to turn out at diminished levels from 2008 and that impacts these numbers.

Taking that into consideration, the numbers still aren't real good. They show a high level of polarization we find in every state- 95% of Democrats but only 9% of Republicans giving him good marks. But he's also doing pretty poorly with independents, as only 38% say he's doing well and 52% disapprove.

Some might take these numbers and say that having Obama campaign for him wouldn't do Creigh Deeds much good. But the real takeaway is that Obama's presence might be just what is needed to generate interest in the Gubernatorial race among his base voters who came out last fall but usually don't in an off year election.

Tim Kaine's approval rating is 49%, actually up from 46% when PPP last measured it in June 2008, a rare Governor who's seen his numbers improve during a period when many have plummeted. For sake of comparison the approval numbers for Governors in other states with more than ten electoral votes where we have polled in the last six months have been 30% for Bev Perdue in North Carolina, 34% for Jim Doyle in Wisconsin, 36% for Jon Corzine in New Jersey, 41% for Rick Perry in Texas, 43% for Ted Strickland in Ohio, 46% for Tim Pawlenty in Minnesota, and an identical 49% for Pat Quinn in Illinois. So grading on a curve he is really doing well.

Mark Warner retains a high level of popularity as well. His approval rating of 57% is the fourth best of 34 Senators PPP has polled on across the country in the last year, trailing only Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, and Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas.

Jim Webb's approval rating is 46%, pretty much unchanged from 44% when PPP last looked at it it in June of last year. That's about average across all the Senators we've polled on.

Full results here