Terry McAuliffe claims a 5-point edge over Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

A  Washington Post poll from last week that showed GOP Gov. Bob McDonnell's job approval rating moving up despite months of negative headlines about the Star Scientific gifting scandal, well, at least Quinnipiac has new numbers that make more sense. According to Quinnipiac, McDonnell's approvals have moved down a bit since March, to 49-28 from 52- 26. That's not especially dramatic, and there are governors out there who would envy even McDonnell's reduced standing, but Quinnipiac notes that these figures match the worst of his tenure. And helpfully, the firm will also have head-to-heads on this fall's gubernatorial race outo

Democrat Terry McAuliffe claims a 5-point edge over Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) in the Commonwealth's 2013 gubernatorial race, according to a new poll released Thursday. 

The latest poll from Quinnipiac University shows 43 percent of registered voters in Virginia giving the nod to McAuliffe, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, while 38 percent went with the conservative Cuccinelli.

Those results are a slight departure from two other polls released this month. A Washington Post poll showed Cuccinelli with a 5-point lead among registered voters and a 10-point lead among voters who said they will participate in November's election. An NBC News/Marist survey, meanwhile, found McAuliffe up 2 among registered voters, but Cuccinelli led by 3 among likely voters. Quinnipiac's survey did not include a sample of likely voters. 

n Thursday.