Poll: Hurt enjoys 23-point lead over Perriello
| Republican challenger Robert Hurt holds a 23-point advantage over 5th District incumbent Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, a new poll suggests.
The SurveyUSA poll, conducted for Roanoke’s WDBJ-TV, had Perriello taking 35 percent of the vote to Hurt’s 58 percent if the election were held Tuesday. Independent Jeffrey A. Clark, a Tea Party member, received 4 percent. “Any time a poll shows your candidate ahead, it’s a good thing,” J. Garren Shipley, communications director for the Republican Party of Virginia, wrote in an e-mail. “But we also know it’s a long way to November, and Perriello has lots of powerful liberal interests lined up behind him. We’ve been working like our candidate is the underdog, and we’re going to keep working that way until 7 p.m. on Nov. 2.” Perriello’s camp attacked the poll’s accuracy. “Everyone knows that SurveyUSA polls are useless; even Sen. Hurt’s campaign manager has admitted that,” wrote Perriello’s campaign manager, Lise Clavel. “This is the same poll that had us down 34 points in 2008, and we all know how that story turned out.” Perriello ended up edging out longtime incumbent Virgil H. Goode Jr. by fewer than 1,000 votes. Clavel wrote that she expects a tight race leading to a Perriello victory, and wrote that “credible” polls have Perriello ahead or tied. “[We] know [his] hard work and commitment to the hardworking families he represents will lead him to re-election this fall,” she wrote. SurveyUSA contacted 800 registered voters in the 5th District. Of the 591 who said they were likely to vote, 42 percent were Republican and 27 percent Democrat, suggesting that the GOP base is more energized, according to the polling firm. Hurt led by 19 points with men and 26 points with women, while whites backed Hurt two to one and blacks backed Perriello two to one. Among the groups that most strongly support Perriello are those who have unfavorable opinions of the Tea Party movement, according to the poll. SurveyUSA wrote that even if the survey were adjusted to include an even number of Democrats and Republicans, Hurt would have won by 11 points. |