Republican Herman Cain’s stock continues to rise and he’s now tied with Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential contest in Virginia, a new poll found.
If the Republican primary was today, 21 percent of Virginia voters said they would back Cain, the CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, according to a Quinnipiac University survey of registered voters. Romney also got 21 percent.
Both Cain and Romney statistically tied President Obama in a hypothetical election match-up (Romney 45, Obama 44; Cain 43, Obama 45).
Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s is falling out of favor with Virginians. After leading the pack in the commonwealth just a month ago, Perry now has 11 percent of the vote and is actually polling behind Cain among evangelical Christians. In a match-up with Obama, Perry trails, 47 percent to 42 percent, despite the president’s high disapproval ratings.
Of the three Republicans, Cain has the smallest percentage of voters who view him unfavorably at 15 percent and Perry was the only one whose unfavorable rating was higher than his favorable.
Still, 54 percent say they still don’t know enough about Cain to form an opinion. Cain is likely to undergo greater scrutiny as a newly dubbed frontrunner, something that hurt the campaigns of Perry and Rep. Michele Bachman, R-Minn.
The U.S. Senate race between Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican George Allen, both former governors, remains very tight. Kaine technically leads 45 to 44, but that’s well within the poll’s margin of error. The race has been a dead heat all year with neither candidate gaining an edge.
Importantly, Kaine continues to hold steady in the face of Virginians’ discontent with Obama. The president polled slightly higher in October than September, with 45 percent of Virginians approving of his job performance compared to 40 percent last month. However, 52 percent said they disapprove, only slightly less than 54 in September.
About 44 percent said Obama deserves another term in office.
Democrats also must overcome what appears to be an enthusiasm gap between the two parties. Fifty-two percent of Republicans said they are more excited about the 2012 election than previous presidential races, double the number of Democrats and independents. Whites are also more enthused than black voters on whose support Obama is counting.
