Survey results released Tuesday said Virginia voters prefer Vice President Kamala Harris over former President Donald Trump in the race for president, and show Gov. Glenn Youngkin with a high approval rating.
A poll by The Washington Post and George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government had Harris in the lead with 50% of likely voters to Trump’s 42%.
Morning Consult’s state-level tracker, last updated on Monday, said Harris led Trump 52% to 42% among likely voters.
Harris’ lead in each poll is larger than the margin of error.
The numbers, which were collected between the end of August and this past weekend, are a notable shift from those recorded before President Joe Biden exited the race, when polls showed a statistical tie in Virginia.
Democrats have won Virginia’s presidential vote and every statewide election since 2009, with an important exception: 2021. In that race, Republicans took every statewide office, and conservatives said it indicated Virginia was still a purple state.
Youngkin also had a high net approval rating in the Post’s poll: 57% approval versus a disapproval of 34% among registered voters. Sixty-four percent of registered voters in Virginia also said that Youngkin and Trump had similar policies.
The Post’s survey also said Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine was ahead of the Republican nominee, Hung Cao, in the state’s U.S. Senate race.
Trump and Youngkin campaigned together in Chesapeake during July. And several days earlier, Ohio Sen. JD Vance headlined a Radford rally after becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee.
But save for a short appearance at a northern Virginia restaurant with Cao, neither Republican nominee has appeared in the state since. The Trump campaign has 19 field offices across the state and has been holding events at them, and the Harris campaign has 25 field offices.
Democrat vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz and second gentleman Doug Emhoff also campaigned in Virginia over Labor Day weekend.
“It’s clear both campaigns are vigorously competing for Virginia,” said Jeff Ryer, a spokesperson for the Virginia campaign for Trump.
A more granular look at the polls shows leads for Harris among specific groups. In Morning Consult’s tracker, Harris was ahead of Trump with men, women and independents.
In the Post’s poll, voters said Harris would do a better job handling the economy, abortion, healthcare, protecting democracy and helping middle class workers. They said Trump would do better at handling immigration, and crime and safety.
Those questions did not identify specific policy proposals or solutions.
More polls from George Washington University and Christopher Newport University are set to be released this month.
