Virginia voters say they are in favor of cutting taxes, requiring certain people to get COVID-19 vaccines, and don’t want to ban critical race theory in schools, according to a new survey.
Christopher Newport University Wason Center surveyed registered voters and found that 47% are in favor of cutting the state’s grocery tax altogether, with only 24% in favor of keeping it.
A wide majority, 63%, said they support teaching how racism continues to affect American society, and 57% oppose a ban on teaching critical race theory. Seventy percent strongly support stationing a police officer in every school.
The survey also found that a majority of voters think first responder and teachers should be required to get COVID-19 vaccines.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin made some of the issues surveyed the cornerstones of his campaign.
When asked about the direction of the commonwealth, 45% of survey respondents said Virginia is headed in the right direction, while 41% said the wrong direction. Views about the right/wrong direction of the Commonwealth have remained relatively consistent over the last four years.
After his first few weeks in office, Youngkin’s job approval is mixed, with 41% saying they approve of the job the governor is doing and 43% indicating disapproval; 16% say they don’t know. Differences are largely along partisan lines.
“In this highly polarized environment, we see partisans running to their corners on how they view the direction of the Commonwealth and the job of the governor,” Quentin Kidd, academic director of the Wason Center, said in a statement, adding, “Youngkin’s approval numbers are certainly lower than those of recent governors in Wason Center polling early in their term.”
A majority of Virginia voters, the survey said, preferred spending the state budget surplus on underfunded government services, such as education, public safety and social services (59%), rather than providing tax cuts or tax rebates (38%).
The survey of 701 registered voters has a margin of error of 4.2%. You can read the entire survey’s findings on the Wason Center website.