Partisan Redistricting Push, Leftist Agenda Tank Virginia Governor’s Approval Rating
Old Dominion’s radical, far-left governor has taken a steep dive in popularity according to a new survey, as voters recognize that the redistricting measure pushed by her party is “unfair.”
A Washington Post-Schar School poll conducted at the end of March reported that Governor Abigail Spanberger’s (D-Va.) approval rating is underwater at only 47%, while 46% of Virginia voters disapprove of her leadership, including 38% who “strongly” disapprove. The governor’s highest approval ratings come from Loudoun County (50%), the Tidewater region (56%), and Washington, D.C. suburbs (57%). Unsurprisingly, 84% of Democrats approve of Spanberger’s job performance, including 62% who “strongly” approve, while 87% of Republicans disapprove of Spanberger’s job performance. Independent voters are nearly evenly split: 45% approve (including 24% who “strongly” approve), and 46% disapprove (including nearly 40% who “strongly” disapprove).
Spanberger was sworn into office in January, but her approval rating is already 13 points lower than the average approval rating of new Virginia governors (61%) going back to 1997. The only Virginia governor in the past 30 years who has scored a lower approval rating within the first year in office was Ralph Northam, who achieved an approval rating of only 43% after his first year in office.
Most voters (45%) said that Spanberger’s policies are “too liberal,” while only 42% described her policies as “just about right.” An unsurprising 79% of Democrats described Spanberger’s administration as “just about right” and 91% of Republicans described it as “too liberal,” while Independent voters were once again split, but leaning towards souring on the governor: 39% described Spanberger’s policies as “just about right,” while 44% opted for the “too liberal” qualifier. However, nearly 10% of Independent voters said that Spanberger’s administration wasn’t liberal enough for their liking. Spanberger campaigned heavily on the issue of affordability,
While Spanberger and Virginia Democrats have launched a barrage of far-left policies, ranging from no-limits abortions to excessive gun control measures, one of the most controversial aspects of Spanberger’s rule so far has been the promotion of a redistricting measure which would reshape Virginia’s current congressional delegation from six Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and five Republicans to 10 Democrats and only one Republican. Initially, Spanberger distanced herself from the potential gerrymandering, expressing her tacit disapproval. Since taking office, however, she has endorsed and campaigned in favor of the measure.
Brian Cannon, an advisor to the organization No Gerrymandering Virginia and himself a Democrat, told The Washington Stand that Spanberger’s support for the deceptive, partisan redistricting measure was almost certainly linked to her tanking approval rating. “Governor Spanberger won on a bipartisan message of affordability. Yet the first thing she did in office was sign an unprecedented and unfair gerrymander that disenfranchises half of the state,” Cannon asserted. “Her approval rating taking a major hit like we see in the latest polling is a direct reflection of that flip-flop.”
While the vast majority (76%) of Virginia voters said that they were either definitely going to vote or had already voted in the redistricting referendum, partisan divides emerged on the issue itself. Over 90% of Democrats said that they intend to vote in favor of the measure, while nearly as many (88%) of Republicans said that they would vote against it. A narrow majority (53%) of Independent voters also said that they would support the measure. However, a majority of voters of all stripes (79% of Democrats and 70% each of Republicans and Independent voters) recognized that the new maps would overwhelmingly favor Democrats in the U.S. Congress, and a plurality (48%) of voters described the maps as “unfair.” Only 44% described the maps as “fair.”
Prior surveys have largely found that voters consider the Democrat-led redistricting push either hyper-partisan or deceptive but have differed slightly in their findings on the referendum’s success. A Heritage Action survey discovered that majorities of Virginia voters consider the proposed congressional district maps overly partisan (61%) and generally oppose gerrymandering (76%), but only 43% of voters said that they intend to vote against the redistricting measure. A February poll from Roanoke College found that 52% of voters intend to oppose the redistricting measure in the referendum, against 44% who intend to support the measure, while a Christopher Newport University survey in January reported that 51% plan to vote for the measure.
S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.


