The survey, obtained by POLITICO on Sunday, put Herring up three points. Poll: Dem ahead in Virginia AG race

RICHMOND, Va. — An internal Democratic Party of Virginia poll finds the Democratic nominee for attorney general, Mark Herring, has opened up a slight lead in a down-ballot race that remains within the margin of error.

The survey, obtained by POLITICO on Sunday, put Herring up three points, 45 percent to 42 percent, over Republican Mark Obenshain.


The poling firm Garin Hart Young surveyed 805 likely voters Oct. 22-23. The sample favored Mitt Romney over President Barack Obama last year, 47 percent to 46 percent.

With polls consistently showing Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli trailing in the high single digits, many GOP leaders have come to see Obenshain as their best hope on what could otherwise be a bleak night. The controversial GOP nominee for lieutenant governor, E.W. Jackson, is also expected to lose.

An Obenshain victory would give him a leg up for a potential 2017 bid for governor.

Recent public polls have shown Obenshain with a slight lead. A Christopher Newport University poll in the field from Oct. 8 to Oct. 13 showed Obenshain ahead by a single point, 46 percent to 45 percent.

A Quinnipiac University poll published last week did not ask a head-to-head question but found Obenshain to be about twice as well known as his opponent. Most voters don’t have an opinion of either man.

“It’s clear that Virginia Democrats are worried about Herring’s campaign, with all recent public polls showing Mark Obenshain with a lead,” emailed Obenshain spokesman Paul Logan.

Warming up the crowd at a Richmond high school Sunday afternoon before Terry McAuliffe and Bill Clinton took the stage, Herring said Obenshain would continue the policies of Cuccinelli, the current attorney general.

“For the past four years, Ken Cuccinelli has bent and twisted the law in order to impose laws and policies that are outside the mainstream,” said Herring.