Va. Governor Race: Ken Cuccinelli, Terry McAuliffe Face Off in New Poll

The race between Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and businessman Terry McAuliffe is neck-at-neck, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

The NBC News/Marist poll shows McAuliffe (D) getting 43 percent support from registered voters, slightly ahead of Cuccinelli’s 41 percent (R).

But McAuliffe, who will make a campaign stop in Arlington Thursday, trailed Cuccinelli among likely voters 42 percent to 45 percent.

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The NBC/Marist poll follows a Washington Post poll, published Saturday, that showed Cuccinelli with a slender 46 to 41 percent edge over McAuliffe among all Virginia voters and a significant 51 to 41 percent lead among those who say they’re certain to cast ballots in November.

Together, the polls show an early fluid race, with relatively few likely voters strongly tied to either candidate. The NBC/Marist poll showed showed only about half of those polled strongly support either candidate.

Cuccinelli had a serious edge with polltakers that said there was an “excellent” chance they would head out to vote on Nov. 5., leading McAuliffe 50 percent to 38 percent.

“The contest is close, the candidates are not well defined, and they still need to connect with voters,” Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, said in a release.  “But, keep an eye on those who say they are going to vote.”

McAuliffe will appear in George Mason University’s campus in Arlington Thursday at 10:45 a.m.

Alongside U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), McAuliffe will unveil his plan to bolster the Commonwealth’s K-12 education system, strengthening its economic performance down the road.

Cuccinelli is expected to be formally nominated at the Virginia Republican Convention in Richmond the weekend of May 17 and 18.

For complete results of the Marist poll, click here.