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New poll finds Joe Biden leads Donald Trump by 12 points in Virginia

Less than a week from Election Day, a new poll surveying likely Virginia voters found that Joe Biden holds a solid 12-point lead over Donald Trump.

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A new survey released by the Christopher Newport University Wason Center shows that President Donald Trump is trailing Joe Biden in Virginia.

Just six days before election day, the Wason Center for Civic Leadership released its latest poll on how the presidential race looks among Virginia voters. 

Biden leads Trump 53% to 41%, according to a survey of likely voters across the state

"Not only are voters across the board in Virginia rejecting the President's job performance, especially as it relates to the coronavirus, but even his own supporters are essentially saying they're uncertain about his performance," said Wason Center Director and CNU political science professor, Quentin Kidd. 

"What's happened between mid-September and middle to late October is two Presidential debates, a third Presidential debate that didn't happen because the President got coronavirus, and and third spike if you will in coronavirus cases nationally," added Kidd.

Black voters, women, college-educated voters and voters older than 45 all back Biden. 

Men are pretty split between both candidates while non-college-educated voters showed a marginal preference for Trump.

In the center's last poll released back in September, it showed that Biden was still the favorite among Virginia voters. He held a slight five-point lead over Trump, 48% to 43%.

RELATED: Poll: Biden has slight lead over Trump in Virginia

As for the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Senator Mark Warner holds a substantial lead over Republican Daniel Gade by 20 points (57% to 37%). The last CNU Wason Center poll released in mid-September on this Senate race showed that Warner led the race by 13 points. 

"That's not a knock on Daniel Gade the person, you know, he's got an impressive record as a person," said Kidd. "As a politician, he has no experience, he's not known around the state and I think that's what's driving these numbers."

The latest findings show that Warner has made significant strides in gaining the support of men, white voters, older voters and non-college-educated voters. However, the majority of Republican voters favor Gade.

Kidd says voters want a familiar face.

"Many of them have realized, 'I don't know who Daniel Gade is,'" he said. "And I think that's why you see the Warner lead."

There's strong bipartisan support for a state amendment that creates a commission to draw boundaries for the commonwealth's U.S. Congressional districts, Senate districts and House of Delegates districts.

The Wason Center also polled what current issues are most important to Virginia voters. 

The chief issue state citizens want to be addressed is the COVID-19 pandemic -- 29% of voters who were polled stated that matter was most significant.

Health care (13%), racial inequality (11%) and climate change (6%) all fell behind the pandemic, but were still seen as important issues.

Lagging at the bottom of the survey were abortion, immigration, gun policy, taxes and foreign affairs.

The Wason Center interviewed 908 registered Virginia voters through phone interviews from Oct. 15 to Oct. 27. The margin of error for the whole survey is +/-3.4%.

Read the full report below:

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