Morrissey continues lead in new 2016 RVA mayoral poll though a large portion is still undecided

by | Oct 17, 2016 | RICHMOND POLITICS

Over the weekend a marketing company dropped a new poll around the 2016 Mayoral election here in Richmond and former Delegate Joe Morrissey continues to lead the race.

Over the weekend a marketing company dropped a new poll around the 2016 Mayoral election here in Richmond and former Delegate Joe Morrissey continues to lead the race.

The poll, conducted by the marketing group Southern Institute of Research here in Richmond, surveyed 1,850 people across all nine districts and found Morrissey leading in six.

A candidate only needs a majority in five districts to win. Check out the breakdown by district below:

Former Venture Richmond head Jack Berry comes in second with a lead in three districts.

This poll finds similar results to a poll conducted by the Christopher Newport’s Wason Center for Public Policy back in late August. That poll showed Morrissey up by a similarly significant margin over (once again) Jack Berry.

Morrissey has been embroiled in scandals – from fist fights at court houses to sex with an underaged former receptionist he has since married and had a child with. Despite questions about these issues from local media, other mayoral candidates and the public, it appears Morrsisey continues to lead.

But the new poll is also quick to suggest there’s a large number of undecided voters in every district, accounting for almost 50% in some cases. This could show a chance for another candidate to take the lead, but the poll took that into account and asked those who were undecided where they might lean. Sure enough, they it’s still almost even between Morrissey and Former Secretary of the Commonwealth Levar Stoney (who’s winning in no districts) with Berry trailing by about five points.

What does any of this mean? It means a lot of you aren’t informed on the candidates and maybe you should be.

You can read the entire poll here. Richmonders go to the polls on Nov. 8th.

Brad Kutner

Brad Kutner

Brad Kutner is the former editor of GayRVA and RVAMag from 2013 - 2017. He’s now the Richmond Bureau Chief for Radio IQ, a state-wide NPR outlet based in Roanoke. You can reach him at BradKutnerNPR@gmail.com




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