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By LAWRENCE EMERSON
Arundel Newepnpera Staff Writer
Democrat Gerald L. Baliles has a six-point lead over Republican Wyatt B. Durrette in the race for governor, but one in four voters remains undecided, according to a new statewide poll.
Commissioned by The Rappahannock News and other newspapers, the telephone poll of 825 registered Virginia voters was conducted Sept. 16-21. Of those responding, 41 percent supported Mr. Baliles to 35 percent for Mr. Durrette, with 24 percent undecided.
The poll, conducted by MasonDixon Opinion Research Inc., of Columbia, Md., has a 3.5 percent margin of error.
While Mr. Durrette’s statewide support has slipped four points — from 39 percent in July, he leads in this region of the state, according to the most recent poll. Mr. Durrette leads Mr. Baliles:
• 44 percent to 32 percent in the Central Piedmont region (including Rappahannock, Fauquier and Culpeper counties).
• 42 to 35 in Northern Virginia (including Loudoun, Prince William and Stafford counties).
• 47 to 33 in the Shenandoah region (including Clarke and Warren counties).
But the poll gives Mr. Baliles the lead in six of nine regions of the state and in seven of Virginia’s 10 congessional districts. Mr. Durrette leads in the 7th (including Rappahannock), 8th and 10th congressional districts.
Mr. Baliles’ support is unchanged since the last poll in July and up 1 percent, from 40, since June.
Noting the large percentage of undecided voters, Mason-Dixon pollsters said the electorate “is still extremely volatile and is just beginning to focus on the state races.”
Statewide, 35 percent of the voters polled said they didn't know enough about the two gubernatorial candidates to gauge their differences on political philosophy.
Asked to identify the major issue in the state campaign, 50 percent of the poll respondents could not define one. Education, the top response, was named by only 14 percent of those polled and 12 percent mentioned roads.
Mr. Baliles’ three-week head start in intensive television advertisements — his began at the end of August —- “may be responsible for success, as our poll shows that if the election were held today, Baliles would have a 41 percent to 35 percent edge over Durrette,” MasonDixon analysts said.
Democratic Gov. Charles S. Robb also may be a factor in Mr. Baliles’ favor. Asked whose endorsement would have more influence on their voting preference, 45 percent of the respondents said Gov. Robb would have more influence with them than President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. Twenty-three percent said President Reagan’s endorsement would have more influence with them, and 30 percent said personal endorsements would have no real effect on their voting.
The poll gave Mr. Baliles an edge
93.8%