Exit Polls
Va. Governor
Vote share
- Democrats
- Republicans
- Independents
- 20%
- 35%
- 50%
- 65%
- 80%
Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II performed poorly compared to his Republican counterpart in 2009 among nearly every group, including his base: white men and women and Republicans. He also failed to get the same level of support among independents, almost a third of the electorate, with the Libertarian candidate, Robert Sarvis, picking up 16 percent of respondents. Updated 10:57 a.m. E.S.T.
| Gender | Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II | Terry McAuliffe | Robert Sarvis | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | |
| Gender | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
| Male 49% of voters |
48%
|
-14 pct. pts.
|
45%
|
+8 pct. pts.
|
7%
|
N.A.
|
| Female 51% |
42%
|
-12 pct. pts.
|
51%
|
+5 pct. pts.
|
7%
|
N.A.
|
| Race and Ethnicity | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | |
| Race and Ethnicity | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
| White 72% of voters |
56%
|
-11 pct. pts.
|
36%
|
+4 pct. pts.
|
8%
|
N.A.
|
| Black 20% |
8%
|
-1 pct. pts.
|
90%
|
0 pct. pts.
|
1%
|
N.A.
|
| Hispanic 4% |
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
| Asian 1% |
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
| Age | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | |
| Age | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
| 18-29 13% of voters |
40%
|
-14 pct. pts.
|
45%
|
+1 pct. pts.
|
15%
|
N.A.
|
| 30-44 23% |
37%
|
-19 pct. pts.
|
56%
|
+12 pct. pts.
|
6%
|
N.A.
|
| 45-64 46% |
48%
|
-11 pct. pts.
|
46%
|
+5 pct. pts.
|
6%
|
N.A.
|
| 65+ 18% |
51%
|
-9 pct. pts.
|
45%
|
+5 pct. pts.
|
4%
|
N.A.
|
| Education | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | |
| Education | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
| No H.S. diploma 2% of voters |
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
| High school grad 13% |
50%
|
-14 pct. pts.
|
47%
|
+12 pct. pts.
|
3%
|
N.A.
|
| Some college 24% |
53%
|
-9 pct. pts.
|
40%
|
+3 pct. pts.
|
6%
|
N.A.
|
| College 32% |
46%
|
-15 pct. pts.
|
46%
|
+8 pct. pts.
|
9%
|
N.A.
|
| Postgrad 29% |
35%
|
-11 pct. pts.
|
57%
|
+4 pct. pts.
|
8%
|
N.A.
|
| Religion | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | |
| Religion | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
| Protestant 0% of voters |
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
| Jewish 0% |
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
| Catholic 0% |
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
| All other 0% |
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
| Party | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | |
| Party | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
| Democrat 37% of voters |
2%
|
-5 pct. pts.
|
95%
|
+2 pct. pts.
|
3%
|
N.A.
|
| Republican 32% |
92%
|
-4 pct. pts.
|
4%
|
0 pct. pts.
|
4%
|
N.A.
|
| Independent or something else 31% |
47%
|
-19 pct. pts.
|
38%
|
+5 pct. pts.
|
15%
|
N.A.
|
| Income | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | |
| Income | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
| Under $50,000 27% of voters |
37%
|
-13 pct. pts.
|
54%
|
+5 pct. pts.
|
8%
|
N.A.
|
| $50,000-$99,999 33% |
51%
|
-9 pct. pts.
|
43%
|
+3 pct. pts.
|
5%
|
N.A.
|
| $100,000 or more 40% |
43%
|
-15 pct. pts.
|
49%
|
+7 pct. pts.
|
8%
|
N.A.
|
| Ideology | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | |
| Ideology | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
| Liberal 20% of voters |
4%
|
-5 pct. pts.
|
89%
|
-2 pct. pts.
|
7%
|
N.A.
|
| Moderate 44% |
34%
|
-13 pct. pts.
|
56%
|
+3 pct. pts.
|
10%
|
N.A.
|
| Conservative 36% |
83%
|
-8 pct. pts.
|
13%
|
+4 pct. pts.
|
3%
|
N.A.
|
| Are You Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual? | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | |
| Are You Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual? | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
| Yes 0% of voters |
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
| No 0% |
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
| Sex, Race and Ethnicity | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | |
| Sex, Race and Ethnicity | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
| White men 36% |
58%
|
-13 pct. pts.
|
33%
|
+5 pct. pts.
|
8%
|
N.A.
|
| White women 36% |
54%
|
-9 pct. pts.
|
38%
|
+2 pct. pts.
|
8%
|
N.A.
|
| Black men 9% |
10%
|
+2 pct. pts.
|
90%
|
-1 pct. pts.
|
1%
|
N.A.
|
| Black women 11% |
7%
|
-3 pct. pts.
|
91%
|
+1 pct. pts.
|
2%
|
N.A.
|
| Hispanic men 2% |
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
| Hispanic women 2% |
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
| All other races 3% |
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
| Does anyone in your household belong to a labor union? | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | Share of vote | Change from 2009 | |
| Does anyone in your household belong to a labor union? | Cuccinelli | McAuliffe | Sarvis | |||
| Yes 0% |
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
| No 0% |
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
N.A.
|
The Election Day poll was based on questionnaires completed by 2,376 voters as they left 40 randomly chosen precincts across the state on Tuesday. The polls were conducted by Edison Research of Somerville, N.J., for the National Election Pool, a
consortium of ABC News, The Associated Press, CBS News, CNN, Fox News and NBC News. In theory, in 19 cases out of 20, the results from such polls should differ by no more than plus or minus 3 percentage points from what would
have been obtained by seeking to interview all voters who cast ballots in Virginia. Results based on smaller subgroups, like demographic groupings, and shifts in results between polls have a larger potential of sampling errors.
In addition to sampling error, the practical difficulties of conducting any survey of voter opinion on Election Day, like the reluctance of some voters to take time to fill out the questionnaire, may introduce other sources of
error into the poll. Prof. David R. Jones of Baruch College, City University of New York, Prof. Monika L. McDermott of Fordham University and Michael R. Kagay of Princeton, N.J., assisted The Times in its polling analysis. Religion,
gay and union were not included on the Virginia exit poll questionnaire.