Poll shows Virginia governor’s race tied

A new poll of likely voters in Virginia shows a deadlocked battle for governor ahead of the Tuesday election, while several down-ballot races are also tied up.

The Roanoke College poll, released Friday, found that Democrat Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie are tied at 47 percent support apiece with just four days left in the campaign.

In addition, Democrat Justin Fairfax and Republican Jill Vogel are tied at 45 percent each in the race to be lieutenant governor, while the race for Virginia’s attorney general is tied at 46 percent between the incumbent, Democrat Mark Herring, and Republican John Adams.

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Gillespie has the edge over Northam when it comes to approval rating. Forty-five percent of Virginians have a favorable view of Gillespie, while 35 percent hold an unfavorable view. That’s compared with 38 percent approval and 36 percent disapproval for Northam.

The economy and health care were listed as the two top motivating factors behind Virginians’ support in the poll. On those issues, 47 percent say Gillespie would do a better job handling the economy, while 39 percent said the same of Northam.

Those numbers are almost flipped for health care: 49 percent of Virginians trust Northam over Gillespie on health-care issues, compared to 37 percent who said they trusted Gillespie on health care.

President Trump suffers underwater approval ratings in the state. More than half of those surveyed, 53 percent, said they don’t approve of the job that Trump is doing, while 36 percent said they approve.

The Roanoke College poll of 781 likely voters was conducted Oct. 29 to Nov. 2 via telephone in English and Spanish. It has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.