Warner Has 16 Point Lead Over Gilmore

Rasmussen just released a new poll that shows Mark Warner is leading Jim Gilmore by 16 points in the US Senate race here in Virginia. Although his lead of 55-39 is slightly down from where it was a month ago (57-37), the poll also shows him having a sizable lead among some of the crucial groups of voters. Among Independent voters, for instance, Warner has a huge lead of 65% to 21%. With all of these numbers tilting in Warner’s direction, it shouldn’t be too surprising that that more people view him favorably.

Warner is viewed favorably by 65% and unfavorably by 32%. Gilmore’s numbers are 51% favorable and 42% favorable.

For those of you who might be wondering what many Virginians claim are important to them, the results of this poll seem to suggest that the economy and the war in Iraq are two of the more important ones. What’s also worth noting is that people seem to be a lot more optimist about Iraq than they are about the economy.

The economy is the most important issue for 38% of Virginia voters. Just 17% give the economy a good or excellent rating, while 37% give it a poor rating. Seventy-percent (70%) think the economy is getting worse, while just 9% say it’s getting better.

The War in Iraq is the most important issue for 21% of voters. Forty-percent (40%) of Virginia voters say the situation in Iraq will improve in the next six months, while 31% believe it will worsen.

Overall I think these poll results are very good news for the Warner campaign. At the same time, November is a long ways off and I don’t think many Virginians have forgotten the fact that Jim Webb had only been in the 2006 Senate race for about two months at this point in time and he was still relatively unknown. Come November he pulled off one of the bigger upsets by defeating George Allen in the general election. Hopefully that will serve as a reminder that Democrats still need to go out and do some campaigning for Warner in order to make sure he’s elected.