SurveyUSA: McDonnell, Ticket Cruising

I keep telling myself that the race will tighten, that the natural minutia of Virginia's modern politics will take hold.  We even got our once every four years Washington Post attack of the standard -bearer for the Virginia Republican Party.  And yet poll after poll has this race not tightening at all, but rather widening in the McDonnell ticket's favor.

I've gone over it before; that we have a strong statewide ticket, that the Democrat ticket has no natural base or constituency at any level of the ticket, and that they have been in power long enough that they own the problems in the state.  But given the blitzkrieg of negative press in the DCPost and the accompanying attacks by Democrats of every level of national, state, local, and media power there is out there.  And McDonnell's lead hasn't shrunk or hold steady, but its continuing to tick upwards.  Here are the numbers, and its clear that part of the problem is that Deeds, Wagner, and Shannon just haven't gotten out there the way McDonnell, Bolling, and Cuccinelli have.  People don't know who they are, they are constantly behind their GOP rivals in name-ID and ideas.  Here are the numbers from SurveyUSA:

GOV:  McDonnell: 54%, Deeds:  42%  

Of those who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and who are judged by SurveyUSA to be likely to vote in November 2009, 13% cross-over for McDonnell, twice the number of McCain voters who cross-over for Deeds.

LG:  Bolling:  52%, Wager: 42% 

Incumbent Republican Bill Bolling is today elected to a second term, defeating Democrat Jody Wagner, former Treasurer of VA and VA Secretary of Finance, 52% to 42%. Compared to a SurveyUSA poll released 5 weeks ago, the contest is largely unchanged.

AG:  Cuccinelli:  54%, Shannon: 41% 

Cuccinelli is at or above 50% in every region of the state. (!!!)

I also want to see where all the haters on the GOP side are, especially certain bloggers, who savagely attacked Ken Cuccinelli, declaring he was unelectable and a drag on the ticket.  It seems to me that in every poll, Cuccinelli always has the widest margin.  He's running a tight, disciplined campaign that has out-worked, out-maneuvered, and out-thought the hapless Shannon who right now might not only lose his race, but his seat might be gone too thanks to the great work being done by Jim Hyland.  The fact that Cuccinelli is above 50% in every part of the state is stunning, we haven't seen this one-sided an ass-kicking since Jerry Kilgore dismantled Donald McEachin.  Cuccinelli and McDonnell are making an incredibly effective electoral team because they complement each other so much and watch out for each other's flanks.  Cuccinelli's presence on the ticket guarantees the right wing will come out without McDonnell having to turn-off crossover votes by pandering too them.  McDonnell, being at the top of the ticket, ensures that Cuccinelli will get a good number of that moderate GOP and independent vote that he might not normally get on his own.  With Bolling between them as the glue holding the ticket together, its the best threesome we've seen in a long long time.   

Comments

[the major pain]

i wish i had a computer to look up the records of these guys. you write so optimistically about them. maybe that would change my mind.

then again i cant get over that 'im willing to work with the other side' thing that hangs out there like fly paper. it dont sound right. dont feel right. dont look right. it aint right. whats the sense of being labeled right if i cant live up thats up not a typo stand tall and live right and live up to the label of right?

say it again!

middle aint right. that is a compromise. and that i cant do not with the dark side.

yeah the major pain said that

[George Templeton]

I only wonder about the percentages of Republicans vs. Democrats 36-33. I mean we know that typically in non Federal elections here in Va. that Republicans do better turnout-wise them Democrats but are we sure that the composition of this poll is close to the composition the electorate will be in November.