A day after President Joe Biden went 35 miles into Virginia for a reelection campaign event where he took a verbal shot at popular Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), a new survey found voters ready to throw it back in his face.
Virginians, who like their governor and direction of the commonwealth, said in the latest poll from the Wason Center for Civic Leadership at Christopher Newport University that they don’t like Biden or where the country is heading.
The survey of 1,000 Virginia voters said they disapprove of Biden, 59%, to 36% who approve. That is a 2-point drop in the president’s approval rating since a year ago.
And, said research director Rebecca Bromley-Trujillo, only 20% said the country is heading in the right direction, while 71% see it heading in the wrong direction.
By comparison, Virginians continue to approve of Youngkin 50%-39% for a second year, and 43% like where the commonwealth is heading versus 37% who don’t.
It was the second poll released this week that showed Youngkin doing well and Biden underwater, a troubling position as he heads into the 2024 reelection and counts on battleground victories in states like Virginia.
In a Virginia Commonwealth University survey, 37% of voters said they disapprove of Biden’s job performance, while 54% gave Youngkin a thumbs-up.
Both polls suggest that the president could have difficulty repeating his 2020 victory over former President Donald Trump in Virginia. He beat Trump by 10 points, but in a head-to-head battle, Trump was trailing by just 3 points, 43%-40%, said the VCU survey.
“It’s really looking rough for Biden,” said CNU’s Bromley-Trujillo.
Dissing Youngkin might not be the answer. Biden in 2021 campaigned in Virginia for former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who was trying to get his job back. He lost to Youngkin, who was making his first try at public office.
Despite Youngkin’s popularity, Biden started his speech in Manassas yesterday by noting McAuliffe’s presence.
“Hello, Virginia! And the real governor, Terry McAuliffe,” Biden deadpanned. The president’s spokeswoman said Biden was joking.
Attorney General Jason Miyares tweeted, “So Joe Biden is an election denier?”
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Asked why Virginians support the Republican governor, even after he lost control of the General Assembly in the election last November, Bromley-Trujillo said he’s likable.
“Virginians overall tend to be nicer to governors than the president,” she told Secrets in a Zoom conference. “He also maintains likeability across partisan [lines]. So we do see some Democrats even saying they approve of his performance. And I think he comes across as a moderate, friendly sort of person. I think that helps him. And so while his party may have lost in some critical elections recently, I think it doesn’t always translate just to him.”
