New Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, who ran as a moderate and said she had "no plans" of redistricting the state, is now operating at a plus one favorability rating after being elected in a 15-point landslide victory. During the same time in former Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin's first year in office, he had a plus 10 favorability rating.
Her favorability rating stands at 47 percent to 46 percent disapproval of voters in Virginia, and 7 percent of voters have no opinion, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll. Her approval is 13 points lower than the average new governor going back to the 1990s. The poll was conducted from March 26 to 31. Since coming into office, she has pushed a major redistricting effort—reversing herself on the issue—and has sparked polarization in the state.
The approval mark is also lower than the average for Virginia governors early in their term going back to the 1990s. “Some amount of polarization is baked in, but this is unusual at this early stage of her administration and given that she had long cultivated a centrist image,” said dean of George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, which co-sponsored the poll.
