New poll: 'Mixed opinions of McDonnell'

Last month, folks close to Gov. Bob McDonnell gleefully touted an internal poll that showed the governor with a 63 percent job approval rating.

This month, an independent poll suggests Virginians aren't as thrilled with the governor's work as the previous assessment indicated.

A survey conducted by Virginia Commonwealth University's Center for Public Policy finds that just 48 percent of voters are pleased with McDonnell's performance. The other 52 percent gave the governor ratings of fair or poor.

Those results are based on responses from 700 people who offered an opinion on McDonnell during phone interviews conducted for the poll July 15-19.

There's plenty more to digest in the poll, which also gauged opinions on the performance of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the Tea Party movement, and the overall direction and financial management of the state. Check out the findings here.

UPDATE: After our original post, McDonnell spokesman Tucker Martin called to point out that while 52 percent don't give the governor positive ratings, 40 percent of respondents said he's doing a fair job. Just 12 percent rated McDonnell poorly.

-- Julian Walker

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