Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s job approval rating has plummeted just two months into her tenure, showing the lowest polling number for an Old Dominion governor since the 1990s.
Ms. Spanberger, a Democrat who won the state’s gubernatorial election by 15 percentage points in November, has a 46% disapproval rating, compared with 47% who approve of her, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll. An additional 7% had no opinion.
Ms. Spanberger’s approval rating is 13 points below the average for Virginia governors in the news outlet’s polling over the past three decades.
The poll was conducted March 26-31 among 1,101 registered Virginia voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
Her almost even split between approval and disapproval is a worse net approval rating than the early-term scores of her gubernatorial predecessors in the same survey from previous years.
• Republican Glenn Youngkin had an average disapproval to approval rating of 39% to 54%.
• Democrat Ralph Northam’s average disapproval to approval rating was 37% to 48%.
• Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s average disapproval to approval rating was 30% to 52%.
• Republican Robert McDonnell had an average disapproval to approval rating of 39% to 59%.
• Democrat Tim Kaine’s average disapproval to approval rating was 31% to 62%.
• Democrat Mark Warner’s average disapproval to approval rating was 20% to 78%.
• Republican Jim Gilmore’s average disapproval to approval rating was 30% to 63%.
• Republican George Allen’s average disapproval to approval rating was 27% to 67%.
• Ms. Spanberger’s immediate predecessor, Mr. Youngkin, completed his term with 50% approval and 46% disapproval.
The quick, sharp decline of the new governor’s approval rating has come weeks after Ms. Spanberger won a 15-point landslide victory following a campaign of affordability and not long after a legislative session in Richmond that included tax increase bills, a mid-decade redistricting referendum and a gun control package that upset many voters in the state.
Virginia voters may get another chance this month to express frustration with Ms. Spanberger’s short tenure with the April 21 referendum on Democrats’ plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts.
Despite Democrats spending tens of millions of dollars on the referendum asking to “restore fairness” on a ballot question to allow mid-decade redistricting, early voting numbers show ballots cast in Republican districts are far outpacing those in Democratic districts.
The Democrats’ proposed map would create 10 seats for their party and only one seat for a Republican. The current congressional map has Democrats representing six seats and Republicans with five.
According to The Post’s poll, 52% to 47% of likely voters would vote yes on the redistricting referendum, but 57% of voters said in the same poll that it’s more important for congressional districts to reflect the political makeup of a state rather than benefit one political party.
Early in-person voting continues until April 18. Election Day is April 21.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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