New polling signals it may be a close call between incumbent Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) and Democratic nominee Jay Jones, despite controversy surrounding the latter’s recently resurfaced text messages.
A new survey, released Wednesday by The Washington Post/Schar School, found Miyares and Jones in lockstep with roughly 46 percent support each among likely voters. The numbers mark a 5 percentage point drop for the Democratic candidate in comparison with a similar poll from last month.
Reporting surfaced earlier this month about leaked texts from 2022 when Jones said if given the choice between former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, former Cambodian dictator Pol Pot and former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert (R), Gilbert would get “two bullets.”
He added at the time that it would take the former lawmaker’s wife “holding their dying children in her arms” for Gilbert to move on gun control.
When asked how voters think Jones should respond following the leaked texts, 51 percent of respondents said he should drop out of the race. Another 41 percent said they supported him continuing his bid and 8 percent said they did not have an opinion or chose to skip the question, according to the survey.
Since the conspiracy came to light, Jones has apologized and attempted to distance himself from the violent rhetoric. He addressed the messages during last week’s general election debate and was able to raise $500,000 in less than 24 hours for his campaign.
Still, 38 percent of poll participants said the messages will impact the attorney general race “a lot.” Another 25 percent said it will influence the race only “a little,” and 31 percent of respondents said it will not have much influence over the outcome. About 6 percent skipped the question or did not answer.
The Washington Post/Schar School poll was conducted Oct.16-20 among 927 participants. The margin of error is 3.5 percentage points.
