Ralph Northam's Approval Rating Drops After Racist Yearbook Photo Surfaces

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) is losing popularity among his states voters after a racist photo from his medical school yearbook resurfaced last week.

Morning Consult measured a 19-point drop in Northams approval rating between surveys conducted before and after the photo went public on Feb. 1.

In a survey of Virginia voters throughout the month of January, the governors approval rating stood at 48 percent. A Feb. 2-3 survey found that his approval rating had fallen to just 29 percent. Over the same period, Northams disapproval rating rose 22 points.

NEW: Northam's popularity plummets 41 points (net) among Virginia voters amid blackface, KKK scandal, via @eyokley https://t.co/avrrmgWi4y pic.twitter.com/L62GODRxO8

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NEW: Northam's popularity plummets 41 points (net) among Virginia voters amid blackface, KKK scandal, via @eyokley https://t.co/avrrmgWi4y pic.twitter.com/L62GODRxO8
Joanna Piacenza (@jpiacenza) February 4, 2019

Note that the January survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point. The February survey, with its much smaller sample size, had a margin of error of plus or minus 6 percentage points.

The photo in question originally ran in Eastern Virginia Medical Schools 1984 yearbook. It appeared on Northams page in the yearbook and featured one individual wearing blackface alongside another in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. Big League Politics posted images of the page last Friday.

Northam quickly apologized and appeared to acknowledge that he was one of the two people in the photo. He later walked that back, claiming in a Saturday press conference that he had never seen the photo until it ran in news outlets last week. (He did, however, admit to once wearing blackface as part of a Michael Jackson costume.)

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The governor ignored calls from both Democrats and Republicans to resign over the weekend and has vowed to serve out his term in office, which runs through 2021.

I am asking for the opportunity to earn your forgiveness, Northam said at a press conference on Saturday.