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A little over one year into his four-year term, Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s approval rating is up by five points from late November, with 57% of Virginia voters saying that they approve of the way he is handling his job as governor, according to a new poll released Thursday by the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research at Roanoke College.
Youngkin’s disapproval is also down 6 points, from 41% from the previous poll, which was released in December, to 35% now. While the governor’s favorability rating is statistically unchanged, his unfavorable rating dropped 5 points to 35%, from 40% in December.
These numbers mark Youngkin’s highest approval rating and lowest unfavorable rating recorded by the Roanoke College poll during his time in office.
Additionally, significant partisan gaps are evident in Youngkin’s approval and favorability ratings, including a 54-point gap in approval – 35% of Democrats, 87% of Republicans – and a 56-point gap in favorability, with 29% of Democrats viewing the governor unfavorably, and 85% of Republicans favorably.
Virginians’ approval of the General Assembly is up 4 points from a year ago with 48% approving of the way the General Assembly is handling its job, which is up from 44% last February. There is also an 11-point partisan gap in approval of the General Assembly (57% Democrats, 46% Republicans).
When respondents were asked about whether things in the commonwealth are going in the right direction or have gotten off on the wrong track, there has been an 8-point increase to 55% who think things are going in the right direction and 9-point decrease to 39% who think things have gotten off on the wrong track (from 47% and 48% in November, respectively).
There is a modest partisan gap, with 48% of Democrats and 63% of Republicans thinking things in Virginia are going in the right direction.
At the national level, President Joe Biden’s approval rating is down slightly to 38%, from 41% in November, although that is within the survey’s statistical margin of error. Similarly, Biden’s favorability rating is down 4 points to 40% and his unfavorable rating is up 4 points to 55% from 44% and 51% in November, respectively.
Former President Donald Trump’s favorability and unfavorable ratings are statistically unchanged from Roanoke College’s November 2022 poll. There are substantial partisan gaps in favorability ratings for both Biden and Trump – currently the only Republican who has announced his bid for the 2024 presidential election – including a 75-point gap for Biden (79% of Democrats, 4% of Republicans) and 60-point gap for Trump (10% of Democrats, 70% of Republicans).
As for the U.S. Congress, Virginians’ approval rating is down 4 points to 23% (from 27% in November).
Also at the national level, 27% of Virginia voters believe things are going in the right direction in the country and 69% think things have gotten off on the wrong track, which is statistically unchanged from the last poll (28% and 68% in November). There is a 44-point gap in attitudes about whether things are going in the right direction in the country (50% of Democrats and 6% of Republicans).
“The story from this poll is that Virginians are more optimistic about the direction things are going in Virginia, though that sentiment does not translate to their feelings about the direction of the country,” said Bryan Parsons, senior political analyst at IPOR and the Roanoke College poll, in a statement.
“While we see an 8-point increase in the percentage of Virginians who believe things are going in the right direction in Virginia, the poll also shows that Virginians remain pessimistic about the direction of the country with nearly 7 in 10 saying they think things are on the wrong track,” Parsons said.
The poll also shows small yet noticeable changes in the approval ratings for both Biden and Youngkin, Parsons added.
“We see that Youngkin’s approval rating is up 5 points from our November poll and his unfavorable rating is down five points. While Biden’s 3-point drop in approval rating is within our poll’s statistical margin of error, his favorability rating is also down four points from our November poll.”
For its new poll, the IPOR at Roanoke College interviewed 680 adult residents of Virginia between Feb. 12 and Feb. 21. The survey has a margin of error of 4.23%.