McDonnell writes a thesis; and Creigh Deeds is the one who gets schooled:
For Governor, Republican Bob McDonnell appears undamaged and today defeats Democrat Creigh Deeds. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll released five weeks ago, the race has tightened slightly, not dramatically. There is movement to Deeds in the Washington DC suburbs, where a 15-point McDonnell lead has evaporated, but there is no GOP erosion in the rest of the state. There is softening in McDonnell’s support among voters age 50+, but that is offset by gains for McDonnell among voters age 35 to 49. Of those who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and who are judged by SurveyUSA to be likely to vote in November 2009, 13% cross-over for McDonnell, twice the number of McCain voters who cross-over for Deeds.
McDonnell leads by 7 among women, seniors by 9, independents by 11, gets 1 in 3 pro-aborts, and polls even in Northern Virginia, the youth vote, college graduates and those making under $50K a year.
Deeds is getting cracked.
Bolling? Up by 10 points. Cuccinelli, that radical social conservative who embodied McDonnell’s thesis? Up by 13 points.
This has got to be embarassing for the Washington Post. Just when you think something might come around to sell some newsprint, the numbers simply don’t bear it out. As for the social media buzz within the Democratic blogosphere, the Republican social media network simply closed ranks and shrugged.
Mainstream Virginia did the same.