The Democratic House of Delegates candidate and former cam-girl running to represent the 57th District, which includes Henrico County outside of Richmond, facing Republican David Owen, saw her poll numbers collapse after voters learned she posted sex videos online.
“Susanna Gibson is now viewed very unfavorably by voters, 27 percent favorable and 45 percent unfavorable, and is upside down with most demographic groups,” according to the memorandum accompanying the poll of 325 likely general election voters conducted Sept. 19 through Sept. 21 by the polling and predictive analytics firm Cygnal. The poll carries a 5.41 percentage point margin of error.
Read the poll memorandum here.
“While a generic Republican leads by four points, David Owen now leads Susanna Gibson by a whopping 11 points,” according to the memorandum written by Brent Buchanan, the firm’s founder and president.
The Washington Post reported Sept. 11 that Gibson (pictured above) worked as a cam-girl, often chatting with viewers and soliciting them to send in money.
“Prior to the scandal, Owen was only ahead of the married mother of two by four points; the poll shows a near-3x increase in Owen’s lead,” Buchanan said. “Owen now leads with Independents by 12 points.”
Gibson’s favorable-unfavorable rating with college-educated voters also signaled trouble for the practical nurse, a Virginia University graduate and Columbia University.
Thirty percent of college-educated women told Cygnal they had a favorable opinion of Gibson, compared to 43 percent with an unfavorable view.
Among college-educated men, the break was 26 percent favorable and 52 percent unfavorable.
“Just by media coverage alone, more than 80 percent of voters already heard of Susanna Gibson’s online business and behaviors,” Buchanan said. “Independents are the group most likely to be aware of the scandal.”
When the cam-girl exposure in The Post broke, Gibson’s attorney accused the unnamed Republican operative who tipped off the paper with revenge porn.
Saturday, the paper posted an op-ed, “Women’s bodies should not be a matter of public interest,” by former California Democratic congresswoman Katie Hill—a scandal broken by RedState editor Jennifer Van Laar.
Hill also blamed Republican operatives for her abuse of a staffer and throuple trysts that led to her resignation.
It’s been almost four years since my own public humiliation that led to my resignation from Congress. Hoping to reclaim my dignity and prevent the same thing from happening to others, I sued the Republican operatives who published nude photos of me — surreptitiously taken by a vindictive ex — and I lost. Before the case even had a chance to go to trial, a dismissive judge ruled that images of my body were a matter of public interest.
The poll showed that 77 percent of undecided voters in the 57th District knew that Gibson had worked as a cam-girl.
“Additionally, 65 percent of voters do not believe a candidate for public office who posts publicly-available videos online should be allowed to claim they should have privacy,” Buchanan said.
The Virginia House Republican Caucus commissioned the poll.
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Neil W. McCabe is staff reporter for The Virginia Star.
Photo “Susanna Gibson” by Susanna Gibson. Background Photo “Virginia Capitol” by KWL. CC BY-SA 4.0.
