President Obama is leading Republican presidential contenders Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in Virginia by margins nearly equal to his historic 6-point victory over Sen. John McCain in 2008, a new poll shows.
The survey, released Wednesday by Public Policy Polling, is in stark contrast to earlier polls by other outlets that showed Obama’s popularity sinking. The Richmond Times Dispatch in October indicated that Obama trailed a generic Republican nominee by 7 points, and at best he was tied with Romney, Quinnipiac University said in its October release.
Voters’ views of Obama’s job performance is evenly split, with 48 percent of Virginians approving of the president and 47 percent disapproving. That’s still higher than his approval rating nationwide, which stands at 42 percent, according to Public Policy Polling.
A majority of the 600 voters, surveyed between Monday and Wednesday, held negative views of the two leading Republicans. Just 33 percent approved of Romney and 31 percent of Gingrich.
Public Policy Polling is affiliated with Democrats but has proven an accurate prognosticator in the past.
Obama would top Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, 48 percent to 42 percent and Gingrich, the recent front-runner and former House speaker, 50 percent to 43 percent, the new PPP poll shows. He also leads both candidates among independent voters.
“Anyone who’s watched one of the Republican presidential primary debates can see the clear difference between the president’s efforts to make the economy work for everyone again and the radical right-wing race-to-the-bottom that Romney, Gingrich and the others are engaging in,” said Brian Coy, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Virginia.
Calls made to the Republican Party of Virginia were not returned.
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Obama has allocated considerable resources to Virginia, a swing state that has grown increasingly important to his re-election bid even though it has trended strongly Republican since 2008. His campaign recently opened offices in Fairfax County and Newport News. The president also came to Virginia for a two-day visit to push his jobs plan in October, stopping his tour bus in voter-friendly areas to rally his base.
