This article originally appeared here, at fairfaxtimes.com

The race for Virginia governor has intensified with less than a month to go until Election Day. A recent poll by the Institute of Legislative Advocacy attempted to pinpoint precisely where Democratic candidate Abigail Spanberger stands on the political spectrum based on her voting history. The poll aims to identify where a candidate sits on the spectrum when all of the ads and public relations speak is out the window. The poll plots candidates on a scale of 0-100, with 0 being an extreme socialist and 100 being an extreme conservative. Spanberger sits at a 13.5 on that scale. 

According to several polls compiled by The New York Times, Spanberger is leading by margins ranging from three to 12 points, depending on the date and outlet of the poll. The Independent Voter Project indicates that over half of the registered voters (5,971,190) in Virginia are Democrats (3,093,450 or 51.81%), while the next largest denomination of voters are Republicans (1,790,540 or 29.99%). The remaining Virginians are unaffiliated (1,087,200 or 18.21%). The substantial majority of Democratic voters are located in Northern Virginia, where the stronghold continued with the election of James Walkinshaw to fill Gerry Connolly’s seat in Congress in September. 

Spanberger and Winsome Earle-Sears are vying for the seat currently occupied by Glenn Youngkin in Richmond. Although polls have been tightening in the race for governor, ILA president Fred McGrath hopes to educate the constituents in the Commonwealth with this unbiased data. 

“We believe by doing these and focusing on the actual issues, not the rhetoric, we can essentially educate voters much more effectively for wherever (their elected officials) may fall on the political spectrum,” said McGrath. 

According to the study, Spanberger is an extreme progressive on issues like regulations, crime, immigration, spending, energy and governmental control. These views place her further left than other politicians like fellow Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former President Joe Biden. 

While Spanberger is relatively progressive on many issues, she has proven to be more aligned with some leaders on the political right on issues like environmental protection. Spanberger is more closely aligned with Marjorie Taylor Greene on this specific issue than she is with her fellow progressive Democrats, sitting around the middle of the political spectrum. 

“Abigail Spanberger is very progressive on (some) issues,” said McGrath. “The analysis found she held extreme progressive views, but then there are other areas that were somewhat surprising, specifically environmental protection, where she took some votes where I think a lot of Democrats might not realize that they were more closely aligned with the far right Marjorie Taylor Green than with her own party.”

Finally, on matters of national security, Spanberger does sit on the left side of the spectrum, but her position is more moderate than some progressive caucus Democrats. Her stance on national security is, however, more progressive than most other Virginia Democrats currently in office. 

The race for the top office in Richmond has become tighter as Election Day nears, much like it did in 2021 when Youngkin prevailed to win the governor’s seat. Spanberger’s campaign hopes she will be able to hold off the rally from Earle-Sears to capture the gubernatorial race. 

McGrath and the team conducting these studies at ILA emphasize the fact that their work is not based on any sort of political leanings or agendas; instead, they are letting the track records of candidates speak for themselves. 

“A lot of these ads are based on outside factors or claims,” said McGrath. “What’s unique about this is it’s based on concrete data. The votes are the votes. It’s designed to really showcase where they stand on the issue.” 

The goal of publishing data like this is, as McGrath explains, to ensure that the general public knows where each candidate actually stands, not what they say in a campaign advertisement. Studies like the one conducted on Spanberger, in McGrath’s opinion, break down the public relations speech that can become so difficult to discern on the campaign trail and give the voters a clear view into what the candidate truly believes.