Democrat Tim Kaine remains neck-and-neck in the polls with Republican George Allen in the race for an open U.S. Senate seat in Virginia, despite record-low approval ratings in the state for Kaine’s chief political ally, President Obama. A Quinnipiac University survey released Thursday shows the two former governors in a virtual dead heat, unchanged since the last Quinnipiac poll in June. Allen now holds a slight edge, 45 percent to 44 percent, among registered voters, well within the survey’s margin of error. Kaine was up 43 percent to 42 percent in June.
The latest poll also found that 54 percent of Virginians disapprove of “the way Obama is handling his job as a president” — a 6 percentage-point plunge from June when 48 percent disapproved.
Kaine is holding his ground despite Virginians’ growing disillusionment with Obama, who Kaine served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee and who he continues to embrace publicly. Last week Kaine endorsed Obama’s $447 billion job-creation plan, though his campaign had no comment on the plan’s details, including higher taxes Obama wants to fund it.
“This poll indicates what others have shown — this will be a very close race,” Kaine spokeswoman Brandi Hoffine said.
Allen’s inability to increase a lead over Kaine at a time when Obama’s approval ratings are dropping “says to me that [Allen is] not the strongest candidate in the race,” said Jamie Radtke, a Virginia Tea Party activist who is one of several challengers Allen still faces for the Republican nomination. “Neither of them are topping 50 percent, which means nobody is excited about either one of these candidates.”
The Quinnipiac poll did not ask voters about any of the candidates challenging Allen or Kaine in their party primaries.
Allen spokesman Bill Riggs had no comment on Radtke’s statements, though he echoed the Kaine campaign’s reaction to the poll, saying it “really confirms what we already knew: We know that this is going to be a close race.”
