If the gubernatorial contest in New Jersey is too close to call, the race in Virginia is pretty close to a done deal as Republican former Attorney General Bob McDonnell has established a double-digit lead over Democratic state Sen. Creigh Deeds.
A Washington Post poll (October 22-25 of 1,206 likely voters) gave McDonnell an 11-point lead over Deeds, 55 percent to 44 percent. The survey provided some evidence that McDonnell has voter intensity on his side; 88 percent of McDonnell voters said that they would definitely vote for him, while just 78 percent of Deeds’ voters said that they would definitely support him. Only 22 percent of Deeds’ voters were “very enthusiastic” about their candidate, compared to 39 percent of McDonnell voters who were “very enthusiastic” about the Republican.
According to Pollster.com’s average of all polls, McDonnell is at 53.5 percent while Deeds is at 41 percent. As this chart indicates, McDonnell has always held a lead in the race, but it began to trend up in September. While Deeds remained competitive through the summer, his trend line began moving
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