Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has pulled ahead of Democrat Terry McAuliffe in the race for Virginia governor, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released this morning.
The poll puts Cuccinelli ahead with 40 percent of registered voters saying that they would vote for him if the election were held today, compared to 38 percent for McAuliffe.
Additionally, Cuccinelli has the higher favorability rating of 30 percent, compared to only 20 percent who view McAuliffe favorably.
Voters also are concerned about McAuliffe’s experience, with only 28 percent saying that he has the right kind of experience to be governor of Virginia, compared to 44 percent who believe that Cuccinelli has the proper experience.
One of McAuliffe’s biggest obstacles is that he is unknown to Virginian voters. Sixty-three percent of respondents in the state still feel that they do not know enough about him to have an opinion of him.
The reason for this could be that McAuliffe has never done much in Virginia politics.
McAuliffe’s only direct involvement in Virginia government was his 2009 run for governor that was derailed in that year’s Democratic primary.
Although the Democratic Party’s fundraiser extraordinaire claims to have lived in Fairfax for over 20 years, opponents say that he is far from committed to Virginia.
McAuliffe has considered running for governor of New York, his home state, and even in Florida, where his hopes were shattered by the state’s seven-year residency requirement.
GreenTech Automotive, a company McAuliffe built with his extensive Rolodex, decided to open plants in Mississippi and China, rather than in Virginia where the company is headquartered.
His campaign has not even been focused on Virginia. McAuliffe and his best friend former President Bill Clinton went out of state to hit up Democratic fundraisers hosted by billionaires in New York and Florida.
McAuliffe successfully used his political connections to become the Democratic candidate in Virginia.
It remains unclear whether those connections will help him gain traction with Virginia voters.