Evan McMorris-Santoro July 20, 2010, 6:32 PM

A new poll out of Virginia’s 5th Congressional District should give Republicans hoping to knock freshman progressive Rep. Tom Perriello (D) out of the Congress in the fall something to cheer about. According to a poll conducted by SurveyUSA over the weekend, Perriello is running more than 20 points behind the Republican nominee in the race, state Sen. Robert Hurt.

The totals: Hurt 58, Perriello 35, independent candidate Jeffrey Clark 4.

A poll in February, taken before a brutal GOP primary that saw Hurt (the establishment choice) emerge from a field of tea party opponents, showed Perriello running a very close race with all of the potential Republican nominees. Now that the party has made a choice, however, that gap appears to have widened considerably.

But as the Washington Post reports, Perriello still has the cash advantage in the contest. The incumbent Democrat reported “$1.7 million in the bank as of June 30 to Hurt’s $216,000,” the paper reports.

Late Update: The Perriello campaign put out a statement rejecting the poll’s findings yesterday, as the liberal BlueVirginia blog reports:

“Everyone knows that SurveyUSA polls are useless; even Sen. Hurt’s campaign manager has admitted that,” Perriello’s campaign said. “The fact is that every credible poll this year has had Tom Perriello ahead or tied. We know this will be a tight race, and we know Tom’s hard work and commitment to the hardworking families he represents will lead him to re-election this fall.”

As the BlueVirginia blgger points out, “SurveyUSA has been pretty good in the past (Nate Silver rates them third, behind Field Poll and ABC/Washington Post)” but “the big question is whether or not they have a handle on the 5th CD of Virginia.”

Polls, Tom Perriello, VA-05