McDonnell holds solid lead

This is good news for my friends in Ole VA.

Republican Bob McDonnell holds a comfortable lead over Democrat Creigh Deeds in the Virginia gubernatorial contest, according to a new Daily Kos poll, results virtually unchanged since news of McDonnell’s socially-conservative thesis emerged.

McDonnell leads Deeds by seven points, 50 to 43 percent, in the survey. That’s nearly identical to the 51 to 43 percent lead that McDonnell held in the last Daily Kos/Research 2000 survey conducted in August.

The poll indicates a solid gender gap, but that’s been in place since the beginning of the contest. Deeds narrowly leads McDonnell among women 47 to 44 percent. But McDonnell’s standing among women hasn’t changed in the last month – in August, women also preferred Deeds 46 to 45 percent.

And McDonnell’s favorability among women has remained stable. He currently holds a respectable 52 percent favorability rating among women – the exact same number as in August. (His unfavorable rating ticked up just one point, from 43 to 44 percent.)