Go figure. Virginia voters give president Trump low approval ratings, yet a majority favors leaving Civil War statues in place — a policy that Trump has vocally and publicly endorsed.
Trump’s approval rating among likely Virginia voters stands at 35%, according to a survey by the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University released today. Antipathy toward the president is almost unanimous (96%) among Democrats. Republicans are ambivalent, with 75% approving of the president’s job and 16% disapproving.
Conversely, 54% of voters say they oppose removing Civil War statues from public spaces, while 36% support removal. Republican candidate for governor Ed Gillespie says he favors keeping the statues while adding historical context, while Democratic candidate Ralph Northam says he prefers moving the statues to museums.
In divining the impact of Trump and the statue controversy on the gubernatorial race, Wason Center Director Quentin Kidd observed in a press release, “Gillespie appears to have a Donald Trump problem, but Northam may have a Robert E. Lee problem.”
Forty-seven percent of voters favor Northam, compared to 41% who prefer Gillespie and 4% who stand with Libertarian Party candidate Cliff Hyra.
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