Gov. Bob McDonnell starts his second General Assembly session with a majority of Virginians approving of the job he's doing, while support for President Barack Obama has waned, according to a recent poll.
McDonnell, a Republican, has a 51 percent approval rating, with 25.1 percent disapproving of his job performance in a Christopher Newport University survey of 1,097 Virginians taken Dec. 14-19.
Obama, who in 2008 became the first Democrat to win Virginia's electoral votes since 1964, had a 44.2 percent approval rating in the poll and 48.5 percent disapproval.
McDonnell begins his second assembly session today, delivering his State of the Commonwealth Address to the assembly.
Monty Epps of Halifax County, who works in a hospital lab, said he voted for Obama in 2008, but now is not so sure.
"I thought he was going to do more," Epps said. Particularly, he said, Obama's actions on the health-care overhaul turned him off.
"He kind of let things get out of hand," Epps said.
Earl Talley, a federal government worker who lives in Woodbridge, is standing behind Obama.
"He is doing a lot better than Sarah Palin or John McCain would have done," he said. Talley doesn't blame Obama for the sour economy.
Though it's getting better, it still has a long way to go, he said.
Those polled had a much more sour view of the nation's direction than of Virginia's.
Of those surveyed, 48.5 percent said Virginia is headed in the right direction, while 27.9 percent said it is heading in a wrong direction and an additional 20.1 percent had mixed feelings.
The optimism plummets on the national landscape, with 27 percent saying the country is headed in the right direction and 54.5 percent in the wrong direction. An additional 16.9 percent were mixed.
More than half thought things would be about the same six months from now.
Quentin Kidd, a political scientist at Christopher Newport University, who designed the poll, said McDonnell should not take much encouragement from the poll. Previous governors had a higher rating at this stage of their administrations, he said.
"I'm not sure he is taking too much capital into the General Assembly session," Kidd said.
As for Obama, Kidd said he faces an uphill battle in winning Virginia again in 2012 and said that is significant because Virginia is a battleground state.
Unless he does something really different over the next two years, Obama will have a hard time in winning back his popularity, Kidd said.
Wayne Boyd of Orange County was never a fan of the president.
"He doesn't have America's best interests at heart," Boyd said. "I'm not sure he has any pride in America."
As for McDonnell, Boyd said "he's doing fine. He has come up with some big ideas."
Judy Maxie, who runs Caddy's restaurant in Midlothian, said she thinks Democrats want to over-regulate, so she is a big supporter of McDonnell.
She said she still is upset that former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat, signed a bill to ban smoking in restaurants.
Kidd noted that the poll was conducted in December, before McDonnell announced a proposal to make state employees contribute to their retirement system. That step should lower his favorability rating, he said.
In assessing the approval rating for McDonnell and for Obama, "you could actually say it's low for both," said Larry J. Sabato director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.
McDonnell was elected governor with 58.6 percent of the vote in 2009, while Obama carried Virginia with 52.6 percent of the vote in 2008.
Regardless of the poll's numbers, Obama is "very much in the running to carry Virginia in 2012," Sabato said.
"If you get an economic recovery and he's above 50 percent in the national polls, then he's got a good shot to win Virginia a second time."
twhitley@timesdispatch.com
(804) 649-6780
omeola@timesdispatch.com
(804) 649-6812
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