Less welcome percentage. Let's hope he's wrong.
GOP pollster and strategist Frank Luntz predicted Tuesday that Republican Glenn Youngkin is likely to defeat Democrat Terry McAuliffe in Virginia's close gubernatorial race, setting up a shaky midterm season for President Joe Biden and his party next year.
On CNBC's "Squawk Box," Luntz said, "There's about an 80% chance that the Republican nominee beats Terry McAuliffe," who served as Virginia governor from 2014 to 2018. Youngkin is a former CEO of private equity giant The Carlyle Group.
"The Democrat is the incumbent and it looks like the incumbent is going to lose," Luntz added. Democrat Ralph Northam, the current governor of Virginia, can't run for reelection because governors can't serve more than one term in a row in the commonwealth.
Pollsters and politicians look to Virginia as a predictor of the midterms, when control of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate are up for grabs.
"There have been four times when the party that's been on the outs has won the House from the incumbents, four times in the last 50 years," Luntz said. "Every one of those four times, 100% Virginia has predicted the outcome, which is why everybody's watching it so closely."
Democrats hold slim majorities in both chambers of Congress.
www.cnbc.com/2021/11/02/virginia-governor-election-gop-pollster-frank-luntz-says-glenn-youngkin-win-likely.html