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Quinnipiac poll shows voters split on Gov. McDonnell's believability

Virginia voters gave solid job-approval marks to both U.S. senators from the state.

Bob McDonnell

Associated Press

Friday, August 23, 2013

RICHMOND — A statewide poll shows Virginia registered voters are split over whether they can believe Gov. Bob McDonnell as federal and state criminal investigations focus on tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts and loans he and his family received from a major political donor.

The poll, released Thursday by Quinnipiac University, also shows that voters give solid job-approval marks to Virginia’s U.S. senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, and that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in the strongest position in the battleground state among potential 2016 presidential contenders.

A majority of the 1,374 registered voters surveyed say New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has no business meddling in Virginia’s gun laws.

The survey, conducted through live telephone interviews by the independent Connecticut-based university from Aug. 14 to 19, has a margin of sampling error of plus-or-minus 2.6 percentage points.

The Republican governor’s job-performance rating remains in positive territory, with 47 percent approving of the job he’s doing to 39 percent who disapprove. The same poll a month ago showed 46 percent approved, but it also showed that only 37 percent disapproved.

That’s a long tumble from his high job-performance mark of 62 percent in October 2011, long before news accounts starting this spring of the governor or members of his family taking at least $145,000 in loans and personal gifts from Jonnie R. Williams, chief executive of Star Scientific Inc. Since Quinnipiac’s July 17 poll, McDonnell has apologized for accepting the gifts and loans and announced that most of it has either been returned was reimbursed to Williams.

Asked whether respondents consider McDonnell honest and trustworthy, 42 percent said yes, 41 percent said no and 17 percent didn’t know or wouldn’t answer.

Saturday, September 14, 2013