Poll: McAuliffe holds 2-point lead over Youngkin in Virginia governor’s race

Democrat Terry McAuliffe holds a two-point lead over his Republican opponent, Glenn Youngkin, in the Virginia governor’s race, according to a new survey from the Trafalgar Group.

The pollster found McAuliffe garnering 46.8 percent of support and Youngkin falling slightly behind at 45 percent. 

McAuliffe has been slightly leading in multiple polls in the tight race for governor as the vote is set for November. 

The Trafalgar Group was the only nonpartisan outlet to predict former President Donald Trump would win Pennsylvania and Michigan in 2016.

However, the pollster has garnered its fair share of criticism, including from FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver and Cook Political Report editor Dave Wasserman, who have expressed skepticism of Trafalgar’s methods for their surveys. 

The latest Trafalgar poll comes as the two candidates have recently battled over connections to Trump, who lost the state by 10 points in 2020.

Youngkin released an ad, first seen by The Hill, that highlights McAuliffe’s past dealings with the former president. 

Trump, who has endorsed Youngkin, himself highlighted McAuliffe’s former support for the president. 

“I knew McAuliffe well. He accepted large campaign contributions from me, said only great things and would do whatever I wanted, until I ran for office. He was a political HACK!” Trump wrote. 

McAuliffe fired back, accusing Youngkin of attempting to distance himself from Trump.

“No amount of bogus advertising will hide Virginians from Glenn Youngkin’s own words: that he is ‘honored’ to have Donald Trump’s endorsement and ‘Donald Trump represents so much’ of why he’s running,” McAuliffe’s campaign said.

Trafalgar surveyed 1,104 people between July 8 and July 10. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.87 percentage points.