In an election for US Senate in Virginia today, 09/22/08, Democrat Mark Warner defeats Republican Jim Gilmore 57% to 34%, according to this latest SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for WDBJ-TV Roanoke, WJLA-TV Washington DC, WTVR-TV Richmond, and WJHL-TV Tri-Cities. Independent Green candidate Gail Parker gets 3% of the vote; Libertarian Bill Redpath gets 3%. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll released one week ago, both Warner and Gilmore are unchanged.

Mark Warner, who served as Virginia’s governor from 2002-2006, continues to take the majority of voters in all demographic groups and all regions of the state. 1 in 5 Republicans cross over to vote for Democrat Warner. Jim Gilmore, who served as Virginia’s governor from 1998 to 2002, gets 73% of Republican votes, 67% of conservative voters, and 56% of those who describe themselves as pro-life; Gilmore takes no more than 41% of any other group.

John Warner, the incumbent Republican United States Senator, was first elected in 1978 and is currently serving his fifth term in office; he is not seeking a sixth term. John Warner and Mark Warner, who are not related, ran against one another in 1996; John Warner won then by 5 points and was re-elected to his fourth term. If Mark Warner is elected, both of Virginia’s U.S. Senate seats will be held by Democrats; Jim Webb defeated Republican George Allen, who was running for his second term, in 2006.

Click here for full results of this poll.