A shocking statewide poll from Trafalgar Group produced a brutal result for Jay Jones, the Democratic Party nominee for attorney general who has been reeling from a massive scandal following the emergence of disturbing text messages he sent to a colleague during his time in the Virginia House of Delegates. The poll also measured a razor close race in the state’s gubernatorial election.
When asked who they would vote for if the election were held tomorrow, 48.9 percent of likely voters indicated that they would vote for incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican. Just 43.1 percent expressed support for Jones, who enjoyed a lead in polling averages before the scandal threw his campaign into disarray.
A sizable number of respondents, eight percent, remain undecided, Trafalgar found.
In 2022 text messages to a colleague, Jones stated that he wanted to put “two bullets” in the head of then-Republican House Speaker Todd Gilbert. He then doubled down and threatened Gilbert’s wife and children over the phone, according to a report from the National Review.
“I’ve told you this before. Only when people feel pain personally do they move on policy,” the Democrat nominee told Republican House Delegate Carrie Coyner. Jones then directed his violent rhetoric towards Gilbert’s children. “I mean do I think Todd and Jennifer are evil? And that they’re breeding little fascists? Yes,” he went on.
Jones served two terms in the Virginia House of Delegates before running for attorney general
The disturbing messages were shared with the ‘National Review’
Several prominent Republicans, including President Trump, have called on Jones to drop out of the race. Democrats on the other hand, including Spanberger, have largely issued boilerplate condemnations of Jones’ remarks while stopping short of asking him to suspend his campaign.
The topic led to a viral debate moment between Rep. Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic Party nominee for governor, and Republican Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears during a high-stakes gubernatorial debate earlier this week. Earle-Sears repeatedly pressed Spanberger on the issue, who at one point stood silently and refused to give an answer when definitively asked whether Jones should still be the nominee.
Trafalgar’s latest survey indicates that Jones’ scandal could be dragging Spanberger down after she has enjoyed a comfortable lead in major polling averages throughout the race. The poll found Spanberger leading by a little more than two percentage points with 47.7 percent of the vote to Sears’ 45.1.
An additional 5.6 percent of respondents remain undecided, while 1.7 percent plan to vote for a third-party candidate.
Spanberger still maintains a comfortable, seven-point lead in the RealClearPolitics polling average, though Trafalgar is not the only reputable pollster to measure a decline in support for the Democrat following the emergence of the scandal.
An October poll from Cygnal found Spanberger leading by four, down from 6.9 percent when compared with September’s result.
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