| VA: Kilgore 43% Kaine 40% | ||||||||||||||||
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Survey of 500 Likely Voters September 14, 2005
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September 16, 2005--The race to be Virginia's next Governor is getting closer. The latest Rasmussen Reports election poll finds Republican Jerry Kilgore leading Democrat Tim Kaine by just three percentage points. In August, Kilgore had a six point lead. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Given a choice between Kilgore and Kaine, Kilgore gets 44% of the vote, Kaine attracts 41%, and 5% say they will vote for some "other" candidate. When respondents are asked about a choice between Kilgore, Kaine, and Russell Potts, Kilgore retains a 3-point lead, 43% to 40%. Potts, a Republican running as an Independent, earns 5% of the vote and 2% say they will vote for someone else. Fifty-nine percent (59%) of voters in the state believe that voter approval should be required for all tax increases. Virginia voters overwhelmingly oppose use of tax money to fund day laborer shelters. (See views on other issues). [More]
Kilgore and Kaine are competing to replace incumbent Governor Mark Warner. Warmer is exceptionally popular, earning a 70% favorable rating from Virginia voters. Warner is also perceived as a centrist--45% see him as politically moderate, 26% say he's liberal, and 23% conservative. Kaine is viewed as liberal by 33% and conservative by 21% Kilgore is seen as conservative by 57% and liberal by 10% A plurality of Virginia voters are conservative. In terms of voting issues, the economy ranks number one--28% of Virginia voters say that's their top priority. Health care (15%), education (14%), and taxes (11%) are the only other issues seen as a top priority by at least 10% of voters. The two leading candidates held a debate on Tuesday. According to the Washington Times, "Many in attendance said Mr. Kaine came off as the more composed candidate." The survey was conducted Wednesday night, after people would have seen or heard a full day of news coverage on the debate. Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports was the nation's most accurate polling firm during the Presidential election and the only one to project both Bush and Kerry's vote total within half a percentage point of the actual outcome. During Election 2004, RasmussenReports.com was also the top-ranked public opinion research site on the web. We had twice as many visitors as our nearest competitor and nearly as many as all competitors combined. Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade.
The telephone survey of 500 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports September 14, 2005. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. 39% of survey respondents were Republican, 35% Democrat, and 26% unaffiliated (see Methodology) |
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