Two new Virginia polls out today. Let’s cut ’em open while they’re still fresh on the table.
Public Policy Polling (9/25-28, likely voters, 8/28-31 in parens):
Creigh Deeds (D): 43 (42)
Bob McDonnell (R): 48 (49)
Undecided: 8 (9)
(MoE: ±4.1%)
More, from Jensen:
Deeds appears to have more room to grow. 53% of the remaining undecideds are Democrats while only 7% are Republicans. Although the fact that Deeds has not locked up those votes yet does show some degree of lukewarmness toward his campaign, those voters are still more than likely going to end up ‘coming home.’ […]
Bob McDonnell’s thesis is having a mixed impact on the race. Only 2% of people who say they supported him a month ago now say they’re going to vote for Deeds, so the extent to which the thesis is changing people’s minds is limited. But it may be playing a role in increasing Democratic turnout. In our last poll those planning to vote this year had voted for John McCain by a 49-45 margin. Now the likely electorate voted for Barack Obama by a 48-45 margin, indicating intended Democratic turnout is now pushing closer to what it was last year. The thesis may not have turned McDonnell votes into Deeds votes, but it looks like it is helping to turn non-voters into Deeds votes.
Jensen goes on to say that if the electorate looks like the one that turned out last November, “Deeds will probably pull this one out by the skin of his teeth”. The idea that Deeds would need an Obama-style turnout operation to win is at least moderately disturbing, but it’s nothing new. However, PPP’s release was the more optimistic of the two polls released today.
SurveyUSA (9/26-28, likely voters, 9/1-3 in parens):
Creigh Deeds (D): 41 (42)
Bob McDonnell (R): 55 (54)
Undecided: 4 (4)
(MoE: ±4%)
That’s an ugly spread for Creigh, but SUSA is looking at a pretty starkly different voter universe than PPP is. PPP’s sample voted for Obama over McCain by a 48-45 margin (up from 49-45 McCain in late August), while SUSA’s last two polls have had 51-44 McCain samples. All other pollsters have shown a tightening race in the past few weeks, so SUSA is either in error or they’ve caught on to something that everyone else has missed:
RaceTracker: VA-Gov