SurveyUSA is out with its latest approval ratings for governors and Senators. Here are the results for Virginia [NOTE: these numbers are a few weeks old, as SurveyUSA doesn't make approval ratings results publicly available on its website right away; still, these are the latest from SurveyUSA].Tim Kaine: 47%-44% (+3 points net approval, down 10 points from 53%-40% (+13) in the last SurveyUSA poll. Regionally, Kaine is popular in NOVA (57%-31%) and Southeastern Virginia (56%-38%), but not so much in Shenandoah (36%-55%) or Central Virginia (41%-50%). As far as I can tell, these are the lowest approval numbers ever for Tim Kaine, with Democrats approving (74%-20%) but Republicans (31%-61%) and Independents (34%-51%) disapproving. What does this mean for Kaine's ability to campaign effectively for Creigh Deeds throughout Virginia this fall? I don't really see how it's a positive development.
Jim Webb: 49%-38% (+11), down 1 point from 48%-36% (+12) in the last SurveyUSA poll. Webb is far more popular among women voters (51%-35% than among men (47%-41%). Webb has a net favorable rating in Southeastern Virginia (57%-34%), NOVA (53%-37%), and Shenandoah (50%-36%), with a slight net negative in Central Virginia (40%-44%). Overall, Webb remains under 50%, which is not where you want your approval numbers to be if you're an incumbent.
Mark Warner: 62%-30% (+32 points), down from 65%-28% (+37) last month. Warner remains by far the most popular politician in all regions of the Commonwealth, including 70%-24% in southeastern Virginia, 62%-29% in NOVA, 53%-36% in central Virginia and 65%-29% in Shenandoah. We'll see if these numbers start to change as Warner takes a series of tough votes on health care, energy, environment, etc.
Last but not least, Barack Obama is at 44%-49% (-5 points), down 28 points from 59%-36% (+23) last month. Will these not-so-scintillating numbers make it easier for Republicans to tie Creigh Deeds to Barack Obama in a negative way like Democrats did with Jerry Kilgore (in 2005) and George Allen (in 2006) to George W. Bush? I don't know, but I sure hope Obama's numbers turn around soon!
