The poll touches on what some national analysts will be looking at in this race and the governor's contest in New Jersey: whether the difficulties of the Democratic candidates trace to a cooling of enthusiasm for the dominant Democrats given the continuing economic challenges facing Americans and the highly partisan debates going on in Washington.

One such indication is the mood of independents who were key to Democratic gains in the state but now prefer McDonnell over Deeds by 47 percent to 33 percent.

Another may be the lower job approval ratings for incumbent Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine whose numbers have fallen from 54 percent who described it as excellent or good a year ago to 48 percent.

The controversy over McDonnell's graduate student thesis that described homosexuals and working women as anti-family seems to have not been much of a factor, as other polls have also showen.