Many voters are still not sure how they feel about the candidates, the poll suggests. | AP Photos Va. poll: McAuliffe leads Cuccinelli

Democrat Terry McAuliffe has a 6 point lead in the race to become Virginia’s next governor, according to a new poll.

McAuliffe leads his Republican challenger, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, 48 percent to 42 percent in the Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday.


It’s the first time Quinnipiac has surveyed voters likely to hit the polls in November, but a poll of registered Virginia voters in July showed McAuliffe with a 4 point lead.

( PHOTOS: Terry McAuliffe’s career)

Many voters are still unsure how they feel about the candidates, however. While those polled had a 41 percent to 35 percent unfavorable view of Cuccinelli and a 34 percent to 33 percent favorable view of McAuliffe, 22 percent said they hadn’t heard enough about Cuccinelli to form an opinion, and 31 percent said the same of McAuliffe.

Cuccinelli might be suffering from current Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, who has been embroiled in a controversy over gifts he and his family received from a major donor.

( PHOTOS: Terry McAuliffe’s career)

Down ballot, the candidates for lieutenant governor are virtual unknowns, with 75 percent saying they don’t know enough to form an opinion on Republican E.W. Jackson, and 87 percent saying the same about Democrat Ralph Northam.

Quinnipiac surveyed 1,129 likely voters from Aug. 14 to 19 for the poll, which has an error margin of plus-minus 2.9 percentage points.