Virginia Mega Thread: The Youngkin Administration

[Calthrina950]

Blue state red governors are almost always either enormously popular or enormously unpopular. I have a feeling Youngkin is going to be the latter of the two by the end of his term.

Why do you say so? It's certainly clear that Youngkin is governing, or will be governing, to the right of Baker, Hogan, and Scott.

Yes, and Youngkin never ran as a "Baker" or "Scott," nor is VA as Democratic as MA or VT, nor is the R base in VA (which turned out in unprecedented numbers/margins for him) as liberal as in those New England states, nor did Youngkin receive significant crossover support from Democrats in the GE the way those aforementioned Republicans did. Youngkin also promised to reverse some of the radical D policies of the last eight years, so I don’t see what the big deal here is.

All of this is true, but Democrats (at least on this forum) see Youngkin as an "extremist" and as no different than more ardently conservative Republicans. They take particular issue with his measures regarding CRT and school mask mandates.

[MT Treasurer]

All of this is true, but Democrats (at least on this forum) see Youngkin as an "extremist" and as no different than more ardently conservative Republicans. They take particular issue with his measures regarding CRT and school mask mandates.

The Democrats you are talking about paint virtually any Republican as "extremist", "irrational", a "Trumpist", a member of a "cult", someone only interested in "triggering the other side" and "preventing Americans from voting" but devoid of any coherent ideology otherwise, etc., so yeah... not sure what reactions you were expecting from an ardently Democratic/liberal forum that was rooting for McAuliffe in overwhelming numbers and never seemed to care much about (in fact, rather welcomed) Northam's "extremism" as governor after labeling Northam himself a "moderate."

I really don’t think there’s any point in arguing these things with well-known and unyielding partisans — not only are you entertaining their silly caricatures/tabloid talking points (which they use to frame the premise of the argument) but, more importantly, wasting precious time because you will never persuade any of these people. Better to just state your point in a separate post without (as you tend to do) always replying to other users who will never change their mind, which then also leads to endless and pointless quote chains — that way, you can still offer your point of view/criticism without addressing specific users. It’s nice that you’re interested in discourse, but often it’s better not to go down that road. You can usually tell how likely it is that a particular user can even be "reached" before you think about replying to them, and I suggest keeping that in mind. It’s rare enough to get a person to reconsider their views or habits in daily life (outside of this forum), it’s even rarer on a forum like this.

[Calthrina950]

All of this is true, but Democrats (at least on this forum) see Youngkin as an "extremist" and as no different than more ardently conservative Republicans. They take particular issue with his measures regarding CRT and school mask mandates.

The Democrats you are talking about paint virtually any Republican as "extremist", "irrational", a "Trumpist", a member of a "cult", someone only interested in "triggering the other side" and "preventing Americans from voting" but devoid of any coherent ideology otherwise, etc., so yeah... not sure what reactions you were expecting from an ardently Democratic/liberal forum that was rooting for McAuliffe in overwhelming numbers and never seemed to care much about (in fact, rather welcomed) Northam's "extremism" as governor after labeling Northam himself a "moderate."

I really don’t think there’s any point in arguing these things with well-known and unyielding partisans — not only are you entertaining their silly caricatures/tabloid talking points (which they use to frame the premise of the argument) but, more importantly, wasting precious time because you will never persuade any of these people. Better to just state your point in a separate post without (as you tend to do) always replying to other users who will never change their mind, which then also leads to endless and pointless quote chains — that way, you can still offer your point of view/criticism without addressing specific users. It’s nice that you’re interested in discourse, but often it’s better not to go down that road. You can usually tell how likely it is that a particular user can even be "reached" before you think about replying to them, and I suggest keeping that in mind. It’s rare enough to get a person to reconsider their views or habits in daily life (outside of this forum), it’s even rarer on a forum like this.

Believe me, I've long come to understand that there are some people who you will never be able to win over, or who you will rarely have any consensus with. There are several posters who fall into this category, and who are people who I disagree with on just about everything. Moreover, it's true that many people aren't able to separate the personal from the political, and evaluate whether or not someone is a good person based upon the political viewpoints that they hold.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Blue state red governors are almost always either enormously popular or enormously unpopular. I have a feeling Youngkin is going to be the latter of the two by the end of his term.

Why do you say so? It's certainly clear that Youngkin is governing, or will be governing, to the right of Baker, Hogan, and Scott.

Yes, and Youngkin never ran as a "Baker" or "Scott," nor is VA as Democratic as MA or VT, nor is the R base in VA (which turned out in unprecedented numbers/margins for him) as liberal as in those New England states, nor did Youngkin receive significant crossover support from Democrats in the GE the way those aforementioned Republicans did. Youngkin also promised to reverse some of the radical D policies of the last eight years, so I don’t see what the big deal here is.

All of this is true, but Democrats (at least on this forum) see Youngkin as an "extremist" and as no different than more ardently conservative Republicans. They take particular issue with his measures regarding CRT and school mask mandates.

It wasn’t only Democrats on this forum who see Youngkin as an “extremist” as the democrats in Virginia ran their entire campaign on Youngkin being an “extremist” for proposing exactly what he said he’d do and they lost .

So far Youngkin hasn’t done anything he didn’t promise he would do

[Fuzzy Bear]

Blue state red governors are almost always either enormously popular or enormously unpopular. I have a feeling Youngkin is going to be the latter of the two by the end of his term.

Why do you say so? It's certainly clear that Youngkin is governing, or will be governing, to the right of Baker, Hogan, and Scott.

Yes, and Youngkin never ran as a "Baker" or "Scott," nor is VA as Democratic as MA or VT, nor is the R base in VA (which turned out in unprecedented numbers/margins for him) as liberal as in those New England states, nor did Youngkin receive significant crossover support from Democrats in the GE the way those aforementioned Republicans did. Youngkin also promised to reverse some of the radical D policies of the last eight years, so I don’t see what the big deal here is.

All of this is true, but Democrats (at least on this forum) see Youngkin as an "extremist" and as no different than more ardently conservative Republicans. They take particular issue with his measures regarding CRT and school mask mandates.

It wasn’t only Democrats on this forum who see Youngkin as an “extremist” as the democrats in Virginia ran their entire campaign on Youngkin being an “extremist” for proposing exactly what he said he’d do and they lost .

So far Youngkin hasn’t done anything he didn’t promise he would do

What a concept!  Doing what you said you'd do!

[lfromnj]

Blue state red governors are almost always either enormously popular or enormously unpopular. I have a feeling Youngkin is going to be the latter of the two by the end of his term.

I mean has he done anything to upset the base so far? If he continues he probably just ends up at the regular downballot partisanship of VA which is probably -7 or so.

Rauner did stuff like the medicaid abortion stuff and drinking chocalate milk.

[Frodo]

So it looks like we've got our own Kyrsten Sinema in the Virginia state Senate in the person of Joseph Morrissey of Richmond:

Virginia governor’s embattled nominee appears to get a second chance

Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s embattled nominee for natural resources secretary emerged from an hour-long grilling by a state Senate committee Tuesday with at least one Democrat open to bucking his party to rescue the seemingly doomed Cabinet pick.

“I am very much open to approving his nomination,” Sen. Joseph D. Morrissey (D-Richmond) said of Andrew Wheeler, who served as Environmental Protection Agency chief under President Donald Trump. “Let’s just say that he’s got a fighting chance.”

Wheeler would only need support from one Democrat in the narrowly divided Senate to win confirmation as secretary of natural and historic resources.

Virginia’s General Assembly rarely rejects a governor’s Cabinet nominees, but Democrats and environmentalists expressed outrage this month when Youngkin (R) named Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist who led a rollback of Obama-era environmental regulations under Trump.

Morrissey’s potential support for Wheeler caught some Democrats by surprise, including Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax).

“I haven’t talked with Joe, but when we had polled the whole caucus, all of them said they were opposed,” he said Tuesday evening.

[Calthrina950]

So it looks like we've got our own Kyrsten Sinema in the Virginia state Senate in the person of Joseph Morrissey of Richmond:

Virginia governor’s embattled nominee appears to get a second chance

Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s embattled nominee for natural resources secretary emerged from an hour-long grilling by a state Senate committee Tuesday with at least one Democrat open to bucking his party to rescue the seemingly doomed Cabinet pick.

“I am very much open to approving his nomination,” Sen. Joseph D. Morrissey (D-Richmond) said of Andrew Wheeler, who served as Environmental Protection Agency chief under President Donald Trump. “Let’s just say that he’s got a fighting chance.”

Wheeler would only need support from one Democrat in the narrowly divided Senate to win confirmation as secretary of natural and historic resources.

Virginia’s General Assembly rarely rejects a governor’s Cabinet nominees, but Democrats and environmentalists expressed outrage this month when Youngkin (R) named Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist who led a rollback of Obama-era environmental regulations under Trump.

Morrissey’s potential support for Wheeler caught some Democrats by surprise, including Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax).

“I haven’t talked with Joe, but when we had polled the whole caucus, all of them said they were opposed,” he said Tuesday evening.

Youngkin certainly does seem to be governing as a generic conservative Republican, almost similar to what you would expect from a state like South Carolina or Alabama or Utah. I've said before that he is to the right of Scott, Hogan, and Baker. What are your perceptions of his governorship thus far?

[Frodo]

So it looks like we've got our own Kyrsten Sinema in the Virginia state Senate in the person of Joseph Morrissey of Richmond:

Virginia governor’s embattled nominee appears to get a second chance

Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s embattled nominee for natural resources secretary emerged from an hour-long grilling by a state Senate committee Tuesday with at least one Democrat open to bucking his party to rescue the seemingly doomed Cabinet pick.

“I am very much open to approving his nomination,” Sen. Joseph D. Morrissey (D-Richmond) said of Andrew Wheeler, who served as Environmental Protection Agency chief under President Donald Trump. “Let’s just say that he’s got a fighting chance.”

Wheeler would only need support from one Democrat in the narrowly divided Senate to win confirmation as secretary of natural and historic resources.

Virginia’s General Assembly rarely rejects a governor’s Cabinet nominees, but Democrats and environmentalists expressed outrage this month when Youngkin (R) named Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist who led a rollback of Obama-era environmental regulations under Trump.

Morrissey’s potential support for Wheeler caught some Democrats by surprise, including Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax).

“I haven’t talked with Joe, but when we had polled the whole caucus, all of them said they were opposed,” he said Tuesday evening.

Youngkin certainly does seem to be governing as a generic conservative Republican, almost similar to what you would expect from a state like South Carolina or Alabama or Utah. I've said before that he is to the right of Scott, Hogan, and Baker. What are your perceptions of his governorship thus far?

To me, he is like a man stuck in a time-warp, acting as if Virginia is still the same moderately conservative Southern state that voted Republican at the presidential level for forty years until Barack Obama won the state in 2008, as well as elected George Allen, Jim Gilmore, and Bob McDonnell to the governorship, and gave Republicans uninterrupted control of the House of Delegates for about two decades (and would have been the case for the state Senate too but for the stroke of luck that gave Democrats control of the chamber in 2007).  This state has changed since then, and I suspect the Republican sweep this past November gave him the misleading impression that it hasn't.  We will see who is right when all the seats in the General Assembly are up for grabs in the 2023 elections.  

[ElectionsGuy]

Blue state red governors are almost always either enormously popular or enormously unpopular. I have a feeling Youngkin is going to be the latter of the two by the end of his term.

Why do you say so? It's certainly clear that Youngkin is governing, or will be governing, to the right of Baker, Hogan, and Scott.

Yes, and Youngkin never ran as a "Baker" or "Scott," nor is VA as Democratic as MA or VT, nor is the R base in VA (which turned out in unprecedented numbers/margins for him) as liberal as in those New England states, nor did Youngkin receive significant crossover support from Democrats in the GE the way those aforementioned Republicans did. Youngkin also promised to reverse some of the radical D policies of the last eight years, so I don’t see what the big deal here is.

All of this is true, but Democrats (at least on this forum) see Youngkin as an "extremist" and as no different than more ardently conservative Republicans. They take particular issue with his measures regarding CRT and school mask mandates.

That's because, despite claims and self-identifying to the contrary, this forum is still deeply in favor of covid restrictions and always has been. Requiring all students to wear masks (which generally don't work, we can admit now, but a few months ago it was "misinformation") for 8 hours a day every day is seen as the "normal" position that shouldn't be challenged. Lifting vaccine mandates? Clearly an extreme position. Banning CRT (which polls about as well as chlamydia)? Catering to the "culture wars" of the far-right. This forum is just deeply partisan Democratic. They believe all the partisan Dem talking points and propaganda. People like me who have been opposed to covid restrictions for 2 years now have been vilified all throughout. But all the sudden some people don't like a mask mandate when they're vaccinated so now they're "anti-restriction". lol no. When Youngkin actually lifts the covid restrictions, and people here freak out, it shows you that they are not at all "anti-restrictions".

It also really displays just how fraudulent their "Trumpism" narrative is. They want "Trumpism" to mean this big scary evil far-right thing that's much worse than generic Republican (this is to appease a certain set of fragile/marginal voters in their coalition), but when it's reduced to pushing for policies that would bring us back to 2019, and they still call you an "extremist/Trumpist", it's telling on where they are, not Youngkin. Youngkin couldn't have gotten elected without Biden voters. A portion of Biden voters approved of his message, and he's simply following through on his campaign promises. Somehow though, they should "regret" their vote because he's much more "far-right" than he posed? No, Democrats are just so used to getting everything they want in a state like Virginia that now when they don't, it's hysterical. They just hate Republicans and always have, Trump just adds a bit more of a bloviating provocative tinge to things that Republicans would otherwise be doing. Trump is actually a bit more ideologically moderate but a bit more divisive in his rhetoric and behavior, that's it.

[Calthrina950]

Blue state red governors are almost always either enormously popular or enormously unpopular. I have a feeling Youngkin is going to be the latter of the two by the end of his term.

Why do you say so? It's certainly clear that Youngkin is governing, or will be governing, to the right of Baker, Hogan, and Scott.

Yes, and Youngkin never ran as a "Baker" or "Scott," nor is VA as Democratic as MA or VT, nor is the R base in VA (which turned out in unprecedented numbers/margins for him) as liberal as in those New England states, nor did Youngkin receive significant crossover support from Democrats in the GE the way those aforementioned Republicans did. Youngkin also promised to reverse some of the radical D policies of the last eight years, so I don’t see what the big deal here is.

All of this is true, but Democrats (at least on this forum) see Youngkin as an "extremist" and as no different than more ardently conservative Republicans. They take particular issue with his measures regarding CRT and school mask mandates.

That's because, despite claims and self-identifying to the contrary, this forum is still deeply in favor of covid restrictions and always has been. Requiring all students to wear masks (which generally don't work, we can admit now, but a few months ago it was "misinformation") for 8 hours a day every day is seen as the "normal" position that shouldn't be challenged. Lifting vaccine mandates? Clearly an extreme position. Banning CRT (which polls about as well as chlamydia)? Catering to the "culture wars" of the far-right. This forum is just deeply partisan Democratic. They believe all the partisan Dem talking points and propaganda. People like me who have been opposed to covid restrictions for 2 years now have been vilified all throughout. But all the sudden some people don't like a mask mandate when they're vaccinated so now they're "anti-restriction". lol no. When Youngkin actually lifts the covid restrictions, and people here freak out, it shows you that they are not at all "anti-restrictions".

It also really displays just how fraudulent their "Trumpism" narrative is. They want "Trumpism" to mean this big scary evil far-right thing that's much worse than generic Republican (this is to appease a certain set of fragile/marginal voters in their coalition), but when it's reduced to pushing for policies that would bring us back to 2019, and they still call you an "extremist/Trumpist", it's telling on where they are, not Youngkin. Youngkin couldn't have gotten elected without Biden voters. A portion of Biden voters approved of his message, and he's simply following through on his campaign promises. Somehow though, they should "regret" their vote because he's much more "far-right" than he posed? No, Democrats are just so used to getting everything they want in a state like Virginia that now when they don't, it's hysterical. They just hate Republicans and always have, Trump just adds a bit more of a bloviating provocative tinge to things that Republicans would otherwise be doing. Trump is actually a bit more ideologically moderate but a bit more divisive in his rhetoric and behavior, that's it.

I'm certainly aware of the ideological bias of this forum, and I've fought against it throughout most of my time here. I've been constantly accused of "both sidesing" everything, of giving Republicans too much credit, and of being overly friendly or accommodating to right-leaning posters. Some have accused me of logical fallacies and of lacking in critical thinking. I've found that some people won't let up on you if you don't express absolute ideological solidarity with them, and some are so obnoxious in their behavior that it makes compromise very difficult to achieve.

As for this forum's views on the pandemic, I'd agree that the majority still favor restrictions, and that the majority strongly approve of how Democratic politicians have handled the situation. Too many on here seem all too willing to embrace permanent changes to their lifestyles because of this virus. However, the number of posters tiring of restrictions, or becoming critical of them, has increased in recent months, and this includes people from both sides of the ideological spectrum.

[Unelectable Bystander]

Blue state red governors are almost always either enormously popular or enormously unpopular. I have a feeling Youngkin is going to be the latter of the two by the end of his term.

Why do you say so? It's certainly clear that Youngkin is governing, or will be governing, to the right of Baker, Hogan, and Scott.

Yes, and Youngkin never ran as a "Baker" or "Scott," nor is VA as Democratic as MA or VT, nor is the R base in VA (which turned out in unprecedented numbers/margins for him) as liberal as in those New England states, nor did Youngkin receive significant crossover support from Democrats in the GE the way those aforementioned Republicans did. Youngkin also promised to reverse some of the radical D policies of the last eight years, so I don’t see what the big deal here is.

All of this is true, but Democrats (at least on this forum) see Youngkin as an "extremist" and as no different than more ardently conservative Republicans. They take particular issue with his measures regarding CRT and school mask mandates.

That's because, despite claims and self-identifying to the contrary, this forum is still deeply in favor of covid restrictions and always has been. Requiring all students to wear masks (which generally don't work, we can admit now, but a few months ago it was "misinformation") for 8 hours a day every day is seen as the "normal" position that shouldn't be challenged. Lifting vaccine mandates? Clearly an extreme position. Banning CRT (which polls about as well as chlamydia)? Catering to the "culture wars" of the far-right. This forum is just deeply partisan Democratic. They believe all the partisan Dem talking points and propaganda. People like me who have been opposed to covid restrictions for 2 years now have been vilified all throughout. But all the sudden some people don't like a mask mandate when they're vaccinated so now they're "anti-restriction". lol no. When Youngkin actually lifts the covid restrictions, and people here freak out, it shows you that they are not at all "anti-restrictions".

It also really displays just how fraudulent their "Trumpism" narrative is. They want "Trumpism" to mean this big scary evil far-right thing that's much worse than generic Republican (this is to appease a certain set of fragile/marginal voters in their coalition), but when it's reduced to pushing for policies that would bring us back to 2019, and they still call you an "extremist/Trumpist", it's telling on where they are, not Youngkin. Youngkin couldn't have gotten elected without Biden voters. A portion of Biden voters approved of his message, and he's simply following through on his campaign promises. Somehow though, they should "regret" their vote because he's much more "far-right" than he posed? No, Democrats are just so used to getting everything they want in a state like Virginia that now when they don't, it's hysterical. They just hate Republicans and always have, Trump just adds a bit more of a bloviating provocative tinge to things that Republicans would otherwise be doing. Trump is actually a bit more ideologically moderate but a bit more divisive in his rhetoric and behavior, that's it.

Yep I’m not sure what the hysteria is about. He won a mandate by campaigning on ending forever pandemic and critical race theory and now is doing it. Both are toxic ideas to the majority

[GeneralMacArthur]

Yep I’m not sure what the hysteria is about. He won a mandate by campaigning on ending forever pandemic and critical race theory and now is doing it. Both are toxic ideas to the majority

Because

A) Critical Race Theory never really existed in the first place except for a few isolated instances that got outrageously disproportional media coverage.  Instead what Youngkin is doing is fighting against perfectly normal teaching in the classroom under the guise of labeling it CRT.

B) The pandemic is still here and that's not going to change just because Youngkin declares that it's over.  He can take the Florida approach of battling against all public safety measures and discouraging people from fighting the pandemic, but that's how you end up with Florida numbers.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Blue state red governors are almost always either enormously popular or enormously unpopular. I have a feeling Youngkin is going to be the latter of the two by the end of his term.

I find it weird that you think VA is a blue state. Greater NoVA is not as loyally Democratic as Chicagoland, to use an example where one big metro so easily offsets the rest of the state.

[Benjamin Frank]

https://twitter.com/BryanAMcNamara/status/1487161785044066306
Looks like Democrats are doing to Youngkin what Republicans have done to Biden, of blaming Biden for all of America's problems on day one (all of Virginia's problems in this case.)

I wonder how many Republicans are now whining "How dare they do to us what we do to them?!"

Of course, the usual caveats: this is just one poll, it's on one issue, not overall approval of Youngkin, and it was sponsored by a left leaning advocacy organization.

[Libertas Vel Mors]

https://twitter.com/BryanAMcNamara/status/1487161785044066306
Looks like Democrats are doing to Youngkin what Republicans have done to Biden, of blaming Biden for all of America's problems on day one (all of Virginia's problems in this case.)

I wonder how many Republicans are now whining "How dare they do to us what we do to them?!"

Of course, the usual caveats: this is just one poll, it's on one issue, not overall approval of Youngkin, and it was sponsored by a left leaning advocacy organization.

Seems noteworthy to note that the 44% number is from PPP and is as opposed to 42% disapprove, no? A positive approval rating from a Democratic-leaning pollster is hardly a bad sign.

[Benjamin Frank]

https://twitter.com/BryanAMcNamara/status/1487161785044066306
Looks like Democrats are doing to Youngkin what Republicans have done to Biden, of blaming Biden for all of America's problems on day one (all of Virginia's problems in this case.)

I wonder how many Republicans are now whining "How dare they do to us what we do to them?!"

Of course, the usual caveats: this is just one poll, it's on one issue, not overall approval of Youngkin, and it was sponsored by a left leaning advocacy organization.

Seems noteworthy to note that the 44% number is from PPP and is as opposed to 42% disapprove, no? A positive approval rating from a Democratic-leaning pollster is hardly a bad sign.

PPP usually doesn't bias their samples, I provided the potential caveat, but your numbers are wrong:

"The survey, which was first seen by The Hill, found that 44 percent of Virginia voters polled said they approved of Youngkin's handling of the pandemic, while 47 percent said they disapproved."

[Libertas Vel Mors]

https://twitter.com/BryanAMcNamara/status/1487161785044066306
Looks like Democrats are doing to Youngkin what Republicans have done to Biden, of blaming Biden for all of America's problems on day one (all of Virginia's problems in this case.)

I wonder how many Republicans are now whining "How dare they do to us what we do to them?!"

Of course, the usual caveats: this is just one poll, it's on one issue, not overall approval of Youngkin, and it was sponsored by a left leaning advocacy organization.

Seems noteworthy to note that the 44% number is from PPP and is as opposed to 42% disapprove, no? A positive approval rating from a Democratic-leaning pollster is hardly a bad sign.

PPP usually doesn't bias their samples, I provided the potential caveat, but your numbers are wrong:

"The survey, which was first seen by The Hill, found that 44 percent of Virginia voters polled said they approved of Youngkin's handling of the pandemic, while 47 percent said they disapproved."

He's still 44-42 on overall approval.

And PPP's results are definitely left-leaning, by a variety of factors even if their samples are sometimes okay.

[Benjamin Frank]

https://twitter.com/BryanAMcNamara/status/1487161785044066306
Looks like Democrats are doing to Youngkin what Republicans have done to Biden, of blaming Biden for all of America's problems on day one (all of Virginia's problems in this case.)

I wonder how many Republicans are now whining "How dare they do to us what we do to them?!"

Of course, the usual caveats: this is just one poll, it's on one issue, not overall approval of Youngkin, and it was sponsored by a left leaning advocacy organization.

Seems noteworthy to note that the 44% number is from PPP and is as opposed to 42% disapprove, no? A positive approval rating from a Democratic-leaning pollster is hardly a bad sign.

PPP usually doesn't bias their samples, I provided the potential caveat, but your numbers are wrong:

"The survey, which was first seen by The Hill, found that 44 percent of Virginia voters polled said they approved of Youngkin's handling of the pandemic, while 47 percent said they disapproved."

He's still 44-42 on overall approval.

And PPP's results are definitely left-leaning, by a variety of factors even if their samples are sometimes okay.

I didn't see the overall approval numbers.  44-42 is pretty bad for a person who has been governor for 3 weeks or so and received 51% of the vote.  Again, the caveats apply.

[ElectionsGuy]

https://twitter.com/BryanAMcNamara/status/1487161785044066306
Looks like Democrats are doing to Youngkin what Republicans have done to Biden, of blaming Biden for all of America's problems on day one (all of Virginia's problems in this case.)

I wonder how many Republicans are now whining "How dare they do to us what we do to them?!"

Of course, the usual caveats: this is just one poll, it's on one issue, not overall approval of Youngkin, and it was sponsored by a left leaning advocacy organization.

Seems noteworthy to note that the 44% number is from PPP and is as opposed to 42% disapprove, no? A positive approval rating from a Democratic-leaning pollster is hardly a bad sign.

PPP usually doesn't bias their samples, I provided the potential caveat, but your numbers are wrong:

"The survey, which was first seen by The Hill, found that 44 percent of Virginia voters polled said they approved of Youngkin's handling of the pandemic, while 47 percent said they disapproved."

PPP has one of the most abominable records of all pollsters. They are dramatically left-leaning in their bias. But regardless, he won by two points, and his approval is +2. That should be a bad sign in a Dem-leaning state? After governing like an "extremist" like we've been told? And covid was always his weakest issue.

[jamestroll]

https://twitter.com/BryanAMcNamara/status/1487161785044066306
Looks like Democrats are doing to Youngkin what Republicans have done to Biden, of blaming Biden for all of America's problems on day one (all of Virginia's problems in this case.)

I wonder how many Republicans are now whining "How dare they do to us what we do to them?!"

Of course, the usual caveats: this is just one poll, it's on one issue, not overall approval of Youngkin, and it was sponsored by a left leaning advocacy organization.

Seems noteworthy to note that the 44% number is from PPP and is as opposed to 42% disapprove, no? A positive approval rating from a Democratic-leaning pollster is hardly a bad sign.

PPP usually doesn't bias their samples, I provided the potential caveat, but your numbers are wrong:

"The survey, which was first seen by The Hill, found that 44 percent of Virginia voters polled said they approved of Youngkin's handling of the pandemic, while 47 percent said they disapproved."

PPP has one of the most abominable records of all pollsters. They are dramatically left-leaning in their bias. But regardless, he won by two points, and his approval is +2. That should be a bad sign in a Dem-leaning state? After governing like an "extremist" like we've been told? And covid was always his weakest issue.

Covid may have been Trumpkin's weakest issue as far polling technically. However, it was covid policy that caused the extreme surge of Republican turn out to go out and vote against Democrats.

I noticed an attitude in Virginia that "at least Youngkin will leave people alone with covid restrictions."

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Youngkin derangement syndrome is so real. It's hard to imagine having a strong opinion about this guy one way or the other, and it's nice that at least 15% of Virginians aren't complete hacks

[Calthrina950]

Youngkin derangement syndrome is so real. It's hard to imagine having a strong opinion about this guy one way or the other, and it's nice that at least 15% of Virginians aren't complete hacks

I've said that Youngkin is governing to the right of Baker, Hogan, and Scott. But that means that he is basically an establishment Generic R. Youngkin reminds me of Mitt Romney. Like Romney, he is a wealthy businessman who then decided to embark on a run for public office, and like Romney did in 2012, he's tried to strike a "moderate" tone while still appeasing the Republican base.

[GeneralMacArthur]

Buyer's remorse.

People voted for Youngkin because it felt good, or because they convinced themselves he wouldn't do some of the stupid s--t he said he was going to do.

Then he came into office and did the things he said he was going to do, and people said "woah, that actually kinda sucks big time, wtf?"

So he lost 10% of his coalition just a week into his term, and it's not gonna get any better.

The one thing he does have going for him is that the pandemic is probably a few weeks away from petering out.  In fact Virginia is already in the middle of its downward slide.  The rational thing to do is to wait until it's back to the bottom and then remove all restrictions.  But Youngkin removing all restrictions now, despite being a totally unnecessary and dangerous move that will hurt people, will ultimately play well for him politically because in a few weeks COVID will be gone and a lot of other states will drop their restrictions, so he can look like a prophet.  Just like how Ron DeSantis has been against restrictions throughout the entire pandemic, and then when the pandemic ends and all the restrictions are gone we'll get another wave of Where Does Ron DeSantis Go To Get His Apology? articles, just like we did this summer before Delta hit and slaughtered thousands of Floridians.

[Frodo]

Virginia could ban abortions after 20 weeks with the help of one particular, maverick Democratic Senator (and a Republican Lt. Governor who can then break the tie in the evenly-divided state Senate):

Virginia GOP supports new abortion restrictions. A key Democrat may support it, too

Here is the summary of the bill in question:

Creates the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The Act prohibits an abortion after 20 weeks gestation unless, in reasonable medical judgment, the mother has a condition that so complicates her medical condition as to necessitate the abortion to avert her death or to avert serious risk of substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function. When an abortion is not prohibited post-20 weeks' gestation, the physician or authorized nurse practitioner is required to terminate the pregnancy in a manner that would provide the unborn child the best opportunity to survive. The bill punishes performance of an abortion in violation of the Act as a Class 6 felony. The bill also provides for civil remedies against a physician or authorized nurse practitioner who performs an abortion in violation of the Act.