RICHMOND — Gov. Robert F. McDonnell’s approval rating has plummeted to a new low amid a gifts scandal that has bled into the race to succeed him and left Virginians hungry for ethics reform, according to a new Washington Post/Abt-SRBI poll.
Fewer than half of the state’s registered voters approve of the job the term-limited Republican is doing or say he has “high personal and moral ethical standards,” the survey found, even as the vast majority of voters say he should not resign over the gifts debacle.
Once one of the nation’s most popular governors, McDonnell had been a possible nominee for vice president last year and appeared to be positioning himself for a presidential bid in 2016. But his final year in office has been consumed by state and federal investigations in connection to luxury gifts and $145,000 that a Richmond-area businessman provided to the governor and his family.
