Public Policy Polling (3/27-29, likely voters, 2/28-3/1 in parentheses):
Brian Moran (D): 22 (19)
Terry McAuliffe (D): 18 (21)
Creigh Deeds (D): 15 (14)
(MoE: 3.6%)
PPP takes its monthly look at the Democratic primary in the Virginia governor’s race. Ex-delegate Brian Moran and former DNC chair Terry McAuliffe have swapped places, with Moran moving into a small lead. Considering that nearly half the voters are still undecided, this looks more like normal fluctuation than a trend… although one item from the fine print suggests that McAuliffe’s negatives may be increasing. His favorable/unfavorable is 32/29, up from 31/24 last month. (Moran and Deeds are less-known but have more upside, at 34/15 and 31/12 respectively.) There’s no head-to-head poll against likely GOP nominee Robert McDonnell.
PPP also takes a look at the crowded Democratic primary for Lt. Governor, finding that 67% of voters are undecided. Among those who have decided, former Secretary of Finance Jody Wagner has a comfortable lead with 21%. Other candidates Jon Bowerbank, Pat Edmonson, and Michael Signer each poll at 4%.
Im for Moran all the way, and if Moran does not work out, then Deeds. McAuliffe will bring down our chances at the governor’s mansion. His ideas are not bad, they are in line with fellow Dems but he has far to much baggage. Moran 09!
I would doubt that someone like McAuliffe would play well in a general.
His main problem is that he has more of a national profile than a Virginia specific one, which I think hurts him in Virginia. This morning I was reading the Washington Post where it talked about McAulliffe raising alot of money for his gubernetorial run by going outside of Virginia to raise money, like to New York, Arizona etc. Probably not a good idea when running for non-federal race. His political positions aren’t what makes him a weak candidate, it’s his weak ties to Virgina that do.
I have no particular preference between Moran and Deeds. Both have their drawbacks. Moran, I believe, voted for the estate tax repeal, while Deeds tends to be culturally conservative. But I’d take either over McAuliffe, who is little more than a glorified bagman. Plus, McAuliffe would be a sure loser.
He came to my school with Dan Bartlett (Bush’s communications director) last spring. It was post Texas but before the Pennsylvania primary, and Terry was . . . delusional about his candidate’s chances at that point and you could really feel the pandering/slime coming from every word and move he made. I didn’t like him. I actually spent more time talking to Bartlett about using technology within campaigns who seemed to have realistic outlooks on most everything. Bartlett made a good point though abut Terry, if Terry didn’t believe every word he said and for a second thought he was losing, his job would be impossible to do, he wouldn’t want to wake up in the morning.
That said, I was completely against Terry when his campaign started but as it has gone on and the news reports I have read on how Terry is working to win over voters . . . I kinda like it and want to root for him. His campaign is like Hillary 2.0, taking nothing for granted and having a much more developed technology section (I still don’t get why Hillary made the choice to use Microsoft servers and templates while everyone else was on Linux servers).
Anyways, may the best candidate win. Terry has reduced the negative opinion I had of him to a slight positive.
seems to be all his barnstorming across Virginia is not moving his numbers any.
The good news for Terry is it’s not helping Moran (much) either.