Virginia Republicans want to give Ken Cuccinelli a second chance

Ken Cuccinelli may have the support he needs to make a second run at the Virginia governor's mansion in 2017.

In a poll released by Public Policy Polling on Friday, 37 percent of Virginia Republicans picked the former Virginia attorney general as their preferred nominee for governor. This follows Cuccinelli's loss to Democrat Terry McAuliffe in 2013 by a margin of around 2.5 percentage points.

In second place is former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor at 16 percent. Cantor, who represented Virginia's 7th District, surprisingly lost a re-election bid for his seat in the primary to economics professor Dave Brat in 2014.

Cuccinelli was the most appealing name to Republican primary voters. Fifty-two percent said they had a "favorable" opinion of him, while 20 percent said "unfavorable." In second place, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie was far behind Cuccinelli at 35 percent favorable, and on the Democrat's side, current Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring sits at 33 percent.

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