VA Gov Spanberger's favorability TANKS in first months of term—9 points lower than Youngkin's: WaPo poll

New Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger, who ran as a moderate and said she had "no plans" of redistricting the state, is now operating at a plus one favorability rating after being elected in a 15-point landslide victory. During the same time in former Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin's first year in office, he had a plus 10 favorability rating.

Her favorability rating stands at 47 percent to 46 percent disapproval of voters in Virginia, and 7 percent of voters have no opinion, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll. Her approval is 13 points lower than the average new governor going back to the 1990s. The poll was conducted from March 26 to 31. Since coming into office, she has pushed a major redistricting effort—reversing herself on the issue—and has sparked polarization in the state.

The approval mark is also lower than the average for Virginia governors early in their term going back to the 1990s. “Some amount of polarization is baked in, but this is unusual at this early stage of her administration and given that she had long cultivated a centrist image,” said dean of George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, which co-sponsored the poll.

Spanberger has not made many inroads with the GOP after campaigning on being moderate and has appeared to be a champion of far-left policies. In one of her first moves as governor, Spanberger rescinded an order from Youngkin that had directed state law enforcement to work with ICE. However, since then, there have been multiple high-profile murders with suspects being illegal immigrants in the state.

In Fairfax County alone, three out of the four murders that have taken place this year have an illegal immigrant suspect. In all three cases, the Fairfax County sheriff is not honoring the ICE detainers for the accused murderers, some of which had prior violence charges.

In the case of Abdul Jalloh, an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone, he had 30 prior arrests and has been charged with second-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of Fredericksburg, Virginia resident Stephanie Minter when she was standing at a bus stop.

Since she has been elected, Democrats in the Virginia legislature have also proposed a number of taxes after she ran on the topic of "affordability." The taxes include a tax on gym memberships, leaf blowers, firearms, a delivery tax on orders from Amazon and UPS, dog walking taxes, and many others.