It’s really, really early in the 2017 election cycle. We just had a presidential election. The first actions of President Trump are dominating the news cycle. So with all of those caveats in mind, here are the numbers from the first two polls in the Republican gubernatorial primary.
The Christopher Newport University poll finds former RNC chair Ed Gillespie with a sizable lead but many Republicans remaining undecided:
In the head-to-head Republican primary, Ed Gillespie leads his three rivals by a wide margin, garnering 33 percent of the vote. Frank Wagner (9 percent) and Corey Stewart (7 percent) follow, while new entrant Denver Riggleman has 1 percent. Half (50%) of Republican or Republican-leaning voters say they are still undecided or supporting someone else.
In the head-to-head Democratic primary, Ralph Northam leads Tom Perriello by 26 percent to 15 percent, with 59 percent of Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters saying they are either undecided or supporting someone else.
Meanwhile, the Mason-Dixon poll conducted hypothetical matchups:
In what today would be the race between the two top party candidates, Gillespie holds a very narrow 44 percent to 41 percent lead over Northam. In other match-ups Northam runs ahead against Stewart (45 percent to 37 percent), while Gillespie leads by a wider margin over Perriello (45 percent to 36 percent) than he does against Northam.
Again, it’s really early, so this just gives a sense of how much support the candidates have as the primaries begin. The Virginia primary elections will be held on June 13.