The latest news out of Virginia:
Virginia Democrats Tom Perriello and Ralph Northam are battling in a very close contest for the party’s gubernatorial primary, with divisions reemerging from last year’s Democratic presidential race, according to a new Washington Post-Schar School poll.
Democratic likely voters say Perriello’s endorsements by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), icons of the national progressive movement, carry at least as much weight as Northam’s support from Gov. Terry McAuliffe and nearly all other Virginia Democrats in Congress and the state legislature.
With less than one month before the June 13 primary, 40 percent of likely Democratic voters support Perriello, while 38 percent support Northam, a difference that is well within the survey’s range of sampling error. Perriello is a former congressman, and Northam is the state’s lieutenant governor.
More than 2 in 10 Democratic voters are undecided or have no current preference, a sign of fluidity leading into the final weeks before the June 13 primary, according to the poll co-sponsored by The Post and George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government.
“I like both the guys,” said Shantanu Sharma, 46, of Sterling. “I’m torn between the guy with the establishment backing versus the guy with Bernie Sanders’s backing.”
Among the broader group of Democratic-leaning registered voters, Perriello holds a slight edge over Northam, with 35 percent support to Northam’s 29 percent.
Northam’s supporters are more apt to fit the profile of likely voters, though — a factor that could prove decisive given that fewer than 10 percent of voters have participated in nonpresidential primaries in the past decade.
Age is a clear dividing line in support, with Perriello, 42, leading Northam by 20 percentage points among Democratic-leaning registered voters ages 18 to 39, while Northam, 57, leads by 16 points among those ages 65 and older. The two run more evenly among voters in between.
The Post-Schar School poll was conducted May 9 to 14 among a random sample of 1,602 Virginia adults reached on cellular and landline phones. The margin of sampling error for individual percentage results is plus or minus 4.5 points among the sample of 654 Democratic-leaning registered voters and six points among the sample of 351 likely primary voters. The range of sampling error for the difference between candidates’ support is 10 points among likely voters.
Click here for the full results.
We have two great candidates and whoever wins the nominee needs to be ready to defeat likely GOP opponent, Ed Gillespie (R. VA). There’s a lot at stake this year and several great opportunities for Democrats to make big gains in Virginia this year. Click below to donate and get involved with the Democratic candidate you support:
Ralph Northam
Tom Perriello