Virginians are evenly split on whether Northam should resign

Virginians are evenly divided over whether Gov. Ralph Northam (D) should resign from his position, a new Washington Post-Schar School poll showed Saturday evening, following the revelation that his 1984 medical school yearbook page contains a photo of a man in blackface and one in Ku Klux Klan robes.

Statewide, 47 percent say he should stay in office, and 47 percent want him gone. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to want to keep Northam as governor, as are African Americans, 58 percent of whom oppose his resignation.

Northam himself said again Saturday he will not resign, and that he plans to focus on "racial equity" issues as his term continues.

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"It's obvious from what happened this week that we still have a lot of work to do. There are still some very deep wounds in Virginia, and especially in the area of equity," he told the Post. "There are ongoing inequities to access to things like education, health care, mortgages, capital, entre­pre­neur­ship. And so this has been a real, I think, an awakening for Virginia. It has really raised the level of awareness for racial issues in Virginia. And so we're ready to learn from our mistakes."