How Virginians View
Politics and Elections

This survey was fielded to 1,200 Virginia residents between October 15–24, 2026. Participants were recruited using Harris Poll's online Integrated Panel. Respondents were screened for quality. By default, Harris QuestDIY applies a nationally representative (NatRep) sample quota structure based on the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data (or local census data if fielding outside the U.S.). The panel included 1,050 registered Virginia voters and 150 nonvoters.

Results are weighted to Virginia adults age 18+ by age, gender, race/ethnicity and education. Age, sex and education benchmarks come from 2024 ACS table S1501; race/ethnicity benchmarks come from the 2024 ACS Virginia PUMS. ACS sex is used as a proxy for survey gender.

Weights sum to 1,200 and match the applied targets. No trimming was applied. Ages 18–34 are combined for reporting because the 18–24 effective base is 88.0; weighting retains the two younger age bands separately. Ages 85+ are combined with 65–84.

Demographic profile and Census benchmarks

Age and education use the adult 18+ population, combining S1501's 18–24 and 25+ counts. The applied targets preserve the observed combined share of unclassified gender (5), race/ethnicity (26) and education (9) responses. Education groups trade/vocational responses with some college/associate's as an approximate nondegree postsecondary category.

Dimension	Category	Raw n	Raw %	ACS %	Applied target	Weighted %
Age	18–24	120	10%	12%	12%	12%
Age	25–34	196	16%	17%	17%	17%
Age	35–44	242	20%	18%	18%	18%
Age	45–64	453	38%	31%	31%	31%
Age	65+	189	16%	22%	22%	22%
Gender	Male	479	40%	49%	49%	49%
Gender	Female	716	60%	51%	51%	51%
Gender	Unclassified	5	0%	—	0%	0%
Race	White, non-Hispanic	731	61%	60%	58%	58%
Race	Black, non-Hispanic	320	27%	18%	18%	18%
Race	Hispanic, any race	61	5%	10%	10%	10%
Race	Other / multiracial, non-Hispanic	29	2%	5%	4%	4%
Race	Asian / Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic	33	3%	7%	7%	7%
Race	Unclassified	26	2%	—	2%	2%
Education	High school or less	400	33%	34%	33%	33%
Education	Some college / vocational	378	32%	26%	26%	26%
Education	College graduate / postgraduate	413	34%	40%	40%	40%
Education	Unclassified	9	1%	—	1%	1%

Party voting tendency

Democratic voters combine “Always vote Democrat” and “Usually vote Democrat, but sometimes vote Republican” (n = 516). Republican voters combine the corresponding always/usually Republican responses (n = 389). Split-Party and Independent Voters combine respondents who vote for both major parties equally (n = 68) with always or sometimes third-party voters (n = 94), for a combined n = 162. This category reflects voting tendency, not a separate measure of independent party identification. Those who do not vote (n = 133) remain separate. Each respondent is counted once, according to their self-reported voting tendency.

Reading the results

Percentages use valid answers within each group and include “Not sure.” Combined responses are calculated before rounding. All displayed percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number; totals may differ from 100% because of rounding. Most important issues allows up to three selections, and news and information sources allows up to four. Percentages for these questions represent respondents selecting each option and may total more than 100%. Both raw n and Kish effective n are shown. Attitude results are suppressed when either is below 100. No subgroup significance tests or probability-sample margins of error are claimed.