Candidates for Va. governor separated by 2 points in new poll

Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) leads his Republican opponent, Ed Gillespie, by only 2 points ahead of Tuesday’s gubernatorial race in Virginia, according to a new poll.

Forty-seven percent of Virginia’s likely voters chose Northam, while 45 percent chose Gillespie, the Monmouth University poll found in a survey released on Monday. By comparison, Northam currently leads Gillespie by 3.3 points in the RealClearPolitics poll average.

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“Despite some wide variations in other public polls on this race, Monmouth has consistently shown this to be a tight contest. The nominal lead has gone back and forth between the two candidates. It could be anybody’s game tomorrow,” Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray said in a statement.

Northam also holds a small edge over Gillespie in favorability. Forty-three percent of voters said they view Northam favorably, while 40 percent of voters said the same of Gillespie.

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Murray noted that Gillespie is doing well in western Virginia, but the race will “come down to the central part of the state.”

“Early in this race, it appeared that both candidates were shooting for crossover appeal, with Northam doing better than expected in Republican areas and Gillespie performing respectively well in Democratic-leaning counties,” Murray said. “The electorate has since reverted to partisan norms as the campaign has taken a decidedly nasty turn.” 

The Virginia gubernatorial race has attracted attention across the country, as both candidates have received support from prominent politicians. While Vice President Pence has stumped with Gillespie, former President Barack ObamaBarack Hussein ObamaHarris grapples with defund the police movement amid veep talk Five ways America would take a hard left under Joe Biden Valerie Jarrett: ‘Democracy depends upon having law enforcement’ MORE has campaigned for Northam.

The survey of 713 Virginians was conducted from Nov. 2-5. It has a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.