Poll: Tim Kaine Has Big Early Lead in Senate Race, Trump's Approval Rate is Dismal

A Quinnipiac University poll indicates former vice presidential candidate Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) enjoys a big lead over Republican competitors for his seat so far.

In the same poll, newly inaugurated President Donald Trump's approval ratings appear to be stuck in a deep hole.

Two well-known Republican women challenging Kaine--talk-show host Laura Ingraham and former presidential candidate and businesswoman, Carly Fiorina--trail Kaine by at least 20 percentage points.

Kaine currently leads Ingraham 56 to 36 percent, and Fiorina 57 to 36 percent, according to the poll.

Kaine leads over the two women in many sub-categories as well, including both female and male voters, white voters and non-white voters, and independent voters.

These days, Democrats appear to be faring well in most races, including the race for governor of Virginia, where another Quinnipiac poll shows that both current Democratic candidates would easily beat any of the four current Republican candidates.

Another area where Republicans aren't enjoying high satisfaction ratings these days is in the White House, where a Quinnipiac poll shows President Trump is "in a job approval hole" just three weeks into the job.

Trump's approval rating currently sits at 38 percent positive, and 58 percent negative. Among Republicans, he enjoys an 81 percent approval rating, but 95 percent of Democrats polled said they disapprove of the job he is doing so far. Among independent voters, he comes in at 57 percent negative to 37 percent positive.

"Both the Trump job approval and the Senate race numbers show the Democratic situation roughly 20 points better off than the GOP," commented Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll. "But it would be foolish to see these numbers at this very early point in the Trump administration as anything but a bad start that may or may not remain the case in the months and years to come."

For this poll, Quinnipiac said 989 Virginia residents were polled, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent.

Photo: Patch file photo / Credit: James Cullum