A poll of likely voters in Virginia released Tuesday shows Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is still leading in a state Republicans had hoped to turn red for the race to the White House.
Clinton led in Virginia with 45 percent of the vote to Republican nominee Donald Trump’s 39 percent.
Public Policy Polling’s Virginia survey asked 878 likely voters was conducted between Sept. 9th and 11th.
“Hillary Clinton’s lead in Virginia may not be double digits like it was in some polls last month,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling, in a statement. “But the state still doesn’t look terribly competitive.”
Clinton is winning 93 percent of the Democratic vote, while Trump has 81 percent of the Republican vote. The researchers claimed in a press release that “Virginia — perhaps more than anywhere else we’ve polled — is somewhere that Republican reluctance to embrace Trump is really hurting him.”
Trump’s net favorability rating among Virginians is also comparatively low, at -26 (34 percent favorable to 60 percent unfavorable), it is 19 points worse than Clinton’s -7 (44 percent favorable to 51 percent unfavorable).
Clinton’s running mate Tim Kaine has actually gained popularity in his home state, despite Public Policy Polling stating that it is unusual for a politician to keep their standing among their local constituents when they gain national attention. Kaine maintains a 50/37 approval rating, up from 43/35 when the state was last polled in June.
“For some lower information voters Kaine’s selection as the Vice Presidential pick is the first time they’ve given him much thought, and early indications are that for the most part they like what they see,” the researchers said in a statement.
Undecided voters preferred continuing under President Obama, who won the state’s support both times he ran for president, rather than picking between the two candidates. Fifty-four percent would rather have the termed-out president elected once again, while only 41 percent would vote for Trump.
“These folks don’t like Hillary Clinton or they’d already be voting for her, but it seems likely for most of these folks the choice is Clinton, third party, or stay home. The least likely possibility is that they’ll end up in Trump’s column and that means if he’s going to come back, he’s probably not going to do it by winning over undecideds.”
A majority of Trump supporters polled, 68 percent, believed if Clinton carried the state it would because of massive voter fraud.
