The hurt just keeps coming for scandal-plagued Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell, whose approval rating have dropped 12 points in the last month.
A new poll by Public Policy Polling shows that the governor’s approval ratings for June stand at 36%, down from 44% in May.
But while McDonnell’s falling numbers and the widening FBI probe into gifts from a corporate donor continue to weigh down on the once-rising star in the Republican Party, PPP President Dean Debnam thinks the consequences extend farther than just McDonnell’s own career. “McDonnell has gone from being a major positive to a major liability for Republican candidates in Virginia,” he said. PPP polling shows that in the 2014 governor’s race Democrat Terry McAuliffe leads Republican Ken Cuccinnelli 41% to 37%.
Aside from plummeting ratings, McDonnell faces a wave of critical Virginia editorials when he returns from his vacation at Virginia’s gubernatorial beach house which, as msnbc’s Rachel Maddow pointed out Monday night, is “finally a getaway for the governor that even seems legal.” But despite these scathing reviews from national publications like the Washington Post to local newspapers like the Roanoke Times calling his scandal “a swirling cesspool,” only 35% of Virginians polled said they think McDonnell should step down.
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