The Roanoke College Poll: Gillespie Closes Gap, but Warner Still Holds Significant Lead in Senate Race

ROANOKE, Va., Oct. 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Republican Ed Gillespie has narrowed the gap in the Virginia Senate race, but Democratic Senator Mark Warner still holds a 13-point lead, according to the latest Roanoke College Poll.

The Roanoke College Poll interviewed 738 likely voters in Virginia between October 20 and October 25 and has a margin of error of +/- 3.6 percent.

Candidate support is pretty firm with 81 percent of Gillespie supporters saying they are very certain they will vote for him and 77 percent of Warner supporters saying they are very certain of their choice. Likely voters are not enamored of either political party. Many of them hold unfavorable views of both the Democrats (47% unfavorable, 33% favorable) and the Republicans (46% unfavorable, 28% favorable).  

"Gillespie has narrowed Warner's lead, but he needs to pick up more momentum," said Dr. Harry Wilson, director of the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research.

"Reports of Warner's phone call to Phil Puckett's son have not hurt as much as they might have...even among those relatively few Virginians who are paying attention to the story. It is the most partisan citizens who are following the story closely, and their positions are not likely to be swayed," Wilson said. "Likely voters are disgruntled. Favorable ratings are down for everyone except Gillespie, who was previously very low."    

The poll asked likely Virginia voters about several current events, including the spread of the Ebola virus, concerns about the Islamic State, known as ISIS, and views of the country and Virginia as a whole.

More than half of the respondents said they are at least somewhat concerned that there will be a major outbreak of Ebola in the Unites States. A larger percentage of those polled are concerned that ISIS will stage an attack in the United States, while 47 percent believe that President Barack Obama isn't doing enough to stop the Islamic group.

Virginians' views of the country have been essentially stagnant since the July 2014 RC Poll, the most pessimistic in more than two years.

See the full poll results at: http://bit.ly/1u2TiLq

SOURCE Roanoke College

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