RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — President Joe Biden’s approval rating in Virginia is 39%, according to a new poll that shows a wide gap between Republicans and Democrats on his job performance.
The poll released Thursday by the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University shows that Biden’s approval among Virginians is similar to his numbers in national surveys.
His low poll numbers — a 55% disapproval rating in the VCU poll — have been a point of concern for Democrats ahead of this year’s congressional midterms.
The president’s approval rating among Democrats in Virginia is 78.8% and 35.2% among those surveyed who identified themselves as independents, according to the poll. The poll shows that Biden has a 91.8% disapproval rating among Republicans in Virginia.
Half of those surveyed said they think Virginia’s abortion laws should stay intact, with 18% saying they are too restrictive and a quarter believing they are too lenient, according to the poll.
Currently, Virginia allows abortions during the second trimester and only after the second trimester in circumstances when three doctors conclude “the continuation of the pregnancy is likely to result in the death of the woman or substantially and irremediably impair the mental or physical health of the woman.”
After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the constitutional right to an abortion in June, Gov. Glenn Youngkin and other Republicans signaled their intentions to push for abortion restrictions in Virginia.
“The issues — the pandemic, increasing cost of living, gasoline prices and pervasive crime — are best measured by the most affected areas: the people,” former Virginia Gov. L. Douglas Wilder said in a statement. “The lack of support for this administration demonstrates that they are missing the mark.”
When asked about gun laws, 43% of respondents said they back tighter restrictions and 40% said they think more focus needs to be put on mental health services “to help prevent mass shootings,” according to the poll.
On Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, 46% support the U.S.’s approach and 42% oppose it. According to the survey, 49.8% of those 34 and younger do not support how the U.S. is handling the invasion and 56.3% of those 55 and older back the country’s response.
The poll surveyed 813 Virginia adults through landline and mobile phone interviews from June 30 through July 9. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.81 percentage points.
