Governor Glenn Youngkin has a 55 percent job approval rating, according to a new poll from Roanoke College, up from 53 percent in May. Opinions about President Joe Biden, former Governor Ralph Northam, and former President Donald Trump have all increased as well.
“The main ‘good news’ in this poll is that sentiment toward government officials and their job approval is up,” Institute for Policy and Opinion Research (IPOR) Director Dr. David Taylor said in a press release accompanying the poll results. “The country may now be moving in a more positive direction based on what respondents say even though people are still not happy.”
“For the first time in our poll, a majority (51 percent) of Virginians have a favorable view of Governor Youngkin, while 37 percent continue to have an unfavorable view,” the release states, noting that both the job approval rating and the favorability rating increases are driven primarily by improving sentiments among Republicans.
“Former Governor Northam’s favorability also increased from 34 percent to 41 percent, showing that Virginians now have a more favorable view of the executive branch of our Commonwealth,” the release said.
Biden’s job approval rating is low at 39 percent, but is up from a June Roanoke poll rating of 37 percent. His favorability rating is also up slightly – 41 percent from 38 percent in May. Trump’s favorability is up to 37 percent from 34 percent.
IPOR conducted the poll from August 7 through August 16 among 640 adult Virginia residents; the poll has a 4.5 percent margin of error. IPOR also included its first questions about Youngkin’s national profile.
Despite Republicans’ positive views of Youngkin, only 49 percent of Republicans think Youngkin should run for the GOP nomination for president, and only 36 percent of Virginians think he should run. Taylor said poll results show Trump would win the nomination in a landslide among Virginia Republicans if they voted today.
Roanoke reported, “In an early matchup for the Republican primary for president, we found that, among Republicans, 28 percent would vote for Youngkin, 62 percent would vote for former President Trump, and nine percent would vote for someone else or aren’t sure whom they would vote for.“
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Glenn Youngkin” by Glenn Youngkin.Â
