VA-GOV: Upshot/Siena Poll Gives Democrat Narrow Lead
The campaign for Virginia governor has divided voters along demographic lines highly reminiscent of last November’s presidential election, according to a New York Times Upshot/Siena College poll on Sunday, and the Democrat, Ralph Northam, holds a modest three-point lead over the Republican, Ed Gillespie, 43 percent to 40 percent.
It is the latest poll to show a tight race. The election is Tuesday, and the poll was conducted Oct. 29 to Thursday, a period when Mr. Northam made headlines for saying he would sign a bill to ban so-called sanctuary cities from becoming a possibility in Virginia.
The campaign has been dominated by hot-button racial and cultural issues. Sanctuary cities, confederate monuments and the MS-13 gang have all played a prominent role in Mr. Gillespie’s advertisements. Unsurprisingly, these issues have split voters by race and education.
White voters without a college degree backed Mr. Gillespie by a 40-point margin in the poll, 63 percent to 23 percent, while nonwhite voters backed Mr. Northam by a similar margin, 65 to 17. Mr. Northam holds roughly a 10-point lead among college-educated white voters, enough to give him the edge statewide.
But neither Mr. Northam nor Mr. Gillespie appears to be matching Donald J. Trump or Hillary Clinton’s huge margins among their strongest demographic groups.
https://www.nytimes.com//2017/11/05/upshot/upshot-siena-poll-gives-democrat-narrow-lead-in-virginia-governors-race.html
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