WASHINGTON – A new poll taking the temperature of the Virginia electorate right before the election puts Democrat Hillary Clinton ahead of Republican Donald Trump by 6 points.
The survey, from the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University, has Clinton leading 48 to 42 percent.
“There’s been a persistent gender gap,” explained Wason Center Assistant Director Rachel Bitecofer. “Because women make up the majority of voters in Virginia, it’s a problem for Trump.”
The poll shows Clinton is leading big with Virginia women, 53 to 37 percent, while men are leaning toward Trump 47 to 42 percent.
Millennials favor Clinton heavily, 56 to 33 percent, and Clinton does very well in the D.C. area.
“She’s had a pretty hefty advantage with voters in Northern Virginia,” Bitecofer said. “We find almost a 2-to-1 preference for Clinton over Trump of voters in that region.”
In the rural southern and southwestern parts of Virginia, it is the other way around with Trump leading by a nearly 2-to-1 margin.
The telephone survey of 1,193 likely Virginia voters was conducted after news broke the FBI was again looking at emails connected to Clinton. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percent.
