Now that candidates in the race for governor have been determined, a couple of new polls show it's already a tight race.
Democrat Terry McAuliffe has an extremely small lead over Republican Glenn Youngkin in two new polls, both of which have the former governor leading within the margin of error.
John Couvillon at JMC Analytics conducted a poll that had McAuliffe with 46% and Youngkin at 42%.
"He certainly starts off with an advantage, but it is not what I would consider an overwhelming advantage because Youngkin has yet to present himself to the voters," Couvillon says. "It'll be an interesting clash of two alternative visions for the state given that you're talking about an already tight race."
Polling by Conservative firm WPA Intelligence found an even smaller lead for McAuliffe. Amanda Iovino at WPA Intelligence says the poll, which was commissioned for the Youngkin campaign, shows the Republican leading among independent voters.
"As the national environment goes in the presidential year, Virginia often moves the other way. And I think it's because independents are kind of reacting to Democrats' complete takeover, and they don't necessarily like what they're seeing," explains Iovino. "So they're going to start giving the opposite side a chance, and in this case it's going to be Glenn and Republicans."
Both polls have McAuliffe leading in northern Virginia but trailing in southwest Virginia and the Richmond area.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
