Since Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell first announced his candidacy, The Washington Post has published no less than 27 articles attacking him for his 1989 thesis on “The Republican Party’s Vision for the Family.” In one editorial, The Post wrote:

The thesis is a wistful ode to a bygone 1950s America, when, Mr. McDonnell noted, 70 percent of American families were led by working fathers and homemaker mothers… The Bob McDonnell who wrote that thesis would make a divisive, disruptive and partisan governor — a sharp departure from the tradition of generally pragmatic executives who have helped make Virginia one of the better-managed states in the union.

Both during the 2009 governors race, and ever since, Democrats have used The Post’s coverage of McDonnell to try and convince Virginians that McDonnell and the Republican Party are waging a “war on women.”

But a new poll out today by Quinnipiac University shows that the Democrats’ “war on women” isn’t working. Not only does McDonnell currently enjoy a positive approval rating from all Virginians by a 53 – 26 percent margin, but he enjoys a net positive 48 – 26 percent among women as well.

“As Gov. Bob McDonnell enters his final year in office, he remains one of the nation’s more popular chief state executives,” Quinnipiac University Polling Institute assistant director Peter Brown said in a release. “He is the only Republican office-holder in the seven states surveyed by Quinnipiac University who get positive ratings from women, almost 2-1 in this case.”