Democrat Terry McAuliffe leads Republican Ken Cuccinelli by four points, 41 to 37 percent, in the Virginia gubernatorial race, according to the latest poll released Tuesday by the Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling.
The results are similar to the numbers in May, when McAuliffe maintained a 42-37 percent lead. This is the first PPP poll that included Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis, who raked in 7 percent support.
The poll also found low favorability levels for both McAuliffe and Cuccinelli. Thirty-four percent of those surveyed have a favorable opinion of McAuliffe, while 36 percent have an unfavorable opinion. Cuccinelli, the current attorney general of Virginia, fares far worse than McAuliffe, with 32 percent of voters viewing him positively, and 47 percent, nearly half of all voters, viewing him unfavorably.
Voters were largely split along party lines. Cuccinelli has the support of 75 percent of Republican voters, while 73 percent of Democrats back McAuliffe. McAuliffe has a 7 point lead among independent voters.
PPP surveyed 601 registered Virginia voters between July 11-14. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
